Community groups and Traditional Owners fighting to keep Western Australia’s Kimberley free from fracking welcomed an extension of the existing fracking ban to cover the iconic region being voted into the WA Labor party platform.
A vote to extend the fracking ban was successfully held at the WA Labor Party conference on Saturday, with support for a ban now part of the party’s platform and supported by key unions including the United Workers Union, the Australian Manufacturing Workers Unions, as well as the grassroots Labor Environmental Action Network.
The timing of the vote is critical - fracking poses an imminent threat to the iconic Kimberley region. As early as this Monday, the state’s Environmental Protection Authority could publish a recommendation on Texan fracking company Black Mountain Energy’s Valhalla Project.
WA Labor Party Conference, Fremantle Photo: Wendy Mitchell / Environs Kimberley
Traditional Owners and groups are now calling on the Cook Government to heed members’ support for an extended fracking ban and make it official through legislation.
Kimberley Traditional Owner Madeleine Jadai said, "We are so happy the WA Labor Party has supported a ban on fracking in the Kimberley. We're now calling on Premier Roger Cook to put this into government policy and make it the law."
Madeleine and Nuriah Jadai, Mangala / Martu Traditional Owners Photo - Wendy Mitchell/Environs Kimberley
Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said, “We thank the Labor Party members and unions who supported this motion.The majority of West Australians don’t want to see the Kimberley trashed so polluting, dangerous fracking can proceed and it’s powerful to see ALP members elevating fracking into the party platform.
“The Cook Government must listen to its members and the majority of West Australians who recognise fracking would be a disaster for the majestic Kimberley, its communities, its rivers and aquifers, and its unique nature.
Martin Pritchard, Executive Director, Environs Kimberley Photo - Wendy Mitchell/Environs Kimberley
The final decision on whether Black Mountain’s fracking project proceeds will rest with Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn. There are strong reasons for Minister Swinbourn to reject this project including unacceptable risks of pollution in the National Heritage listed Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment while the government gets on with extending the ban on fracking across the Kimberley.”
Environs Kimberley and Lock the Gate ran a high-profile, grassroots campaign against Kimberley fracking in the leadup to the last state election. Following the result, Labor member for Fremantle Simone McGurk acknowledged the Cook Government’s support for fracking played a part in the swing against her.
Lock the Gate Alliance state campaign Coordinator Simone van Hattem said the group was expanding its grassroots voter outreach campaign across the Perth metropolitan area.
“Our campaign against Kimberley fracking continues to grow. Each weekend there are more locals out on the streets, doorknocking and raising the alarm about dangerous fracking.
Lock the Gate Alliance state campaign Coordinator Simone van Hattem
“More and more people are telling us they don’t want fracking in the Kimberley. West Australians don’t want to see the iconic Kimberley become a polluted and pockmarked wasteland.
"Labor’s members and voters want this ban. Now it’s up to Premier Cook to get it done."
Background:
The existing ban on fracking, introduced by the McGowan Government in 2018, only covers about 5% of WA - The Perth, Peel, and South West regions, the Dampier Peninsula, National Parks, towns, and drinking water supply areas.
The area that is open to fracking in WA is nearly the size of Tasmania, split between a small portion in the Mid West, and a much larger area in the Kimberley, where Black Mountain is hoping to begin drilling its Valhalla fracking project as early as next year.
The rest of WA, 93 percent, is covered by a moratorium, which could be overturned at the stroke of a pen by the government - just as it was in the Kimberley and Mid West.
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