Comments last week by WA Premier Roger Cook that WA could be 'forced to frack' the Kimberley if Woodside doesn't drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef (Browse Basin proposal), have been met with outrage across the state.

Over a 100 people gathered at the WA Parliament at short notice to reject the Premier's statement and called on him to enforce the states' domestic gas policy of retaining 15% for domestic use.

Environs Kimberley’s Martin Pritchard at WA Parliament protest

Today, community members occupied the Premier’s electorate office as well as three other Ministers offices (Simone McGurk, John Carey, and Don Punch) and offices of local MP’s in Maylands (Dan Bull) and Bibra Lake (Sook Yee Lai). See Lock the Gate media release here.

Frack Free Kimberley community members occupying Maylands MP Dan Bull's office

In Broome, community members protested the Premier’s threats to frack the Kimberley and drill Scott Reef at local MLA Divina D’Anna’s office.

Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said: 

"The Premier has really upset people by saying that an iconic place like the Kimberley has to be sacrificed to fracking if Woodside doesn’t drill for oil and gas at Scott Reef.

His own party, WA Labor, voted to extend the current fracking ban in the Southwest, Perth Metro, Peel and Dampier Peninsula, across the state late last year.

The response has been strong with a snap rally at the WA Parliament, sit-ins in the Premier’s electorate office as well as 5 other MP offices including the Minister for Water in Bunbury and an action outside Kimberley MLA Divina D’Anna’s office in Broome.

Protest in Broome at Kimberley MP Divina D'Anna's office

This is just the beginning, we know the community will not allow the mass industrialisation of the Kimberley by the onshore oil and gas industry.

The Premier said that WA will run out of gas early in the next decade, but we know that if oil and gas companies did the right thing and supplied the 15% domestic gas requirement, instead of leaving the state short, and more renewable energy was built, there would be no need to frack the Kimberley or drill around Scott Reef.

The government has to understand that the social licence around oil and gas extraction is evaporating, last year’s election result in Fremantle showed that. There is no social licence to drill around Scott Reef and they certainly don’t have it for fracking the iconic Kimberley.

People hate the idea of fracking and the Valhalla proposal in the Martuwarra Fitzroy River catchment is riddled with flaws. Groundwater, including drinking water, would be at risk from carcinogenic chemicals. Radioactive wastewater has come to the surface with previous test wells and we know wastewater dams have overflowed in the wet season.

We cannot risk the Martuwarra Fitzroy River to fracking, it’s a known polluting industry and its not compatible with the superb nature experiences of the Kimberley and its $500 million tourism industry.

Black Mountain can’t manage wastewater. They haven’t consulted all Traditional Owners. And they can’t prevent damage to endangered creatures who call it home, it would industrialise the Kimberley.

Woodside’s Browse project would wreck Australia’s most outstanding coral system at Scott Reef, the community feels strongly about this.

The Premier needs to make big gas accountable to everyday day people and make them meet the domestic supply requirements so there’s no need to trash the Kimberley and its coral reefs.

Environs Kimberley is calling on WA Environment Minister Matthew Swinbourn to reject the Valhalla fracking proposal and the Premier to ban fracking in the Kimberley.”

More than 23,000 petitions and postcards from voters calling for a ban on fracking in the Kimberley have been handed over to Premier Roger Cook and Minister Simone McGurk in Fremantle.

“The Kimberley is known for its world class landscapes, intact nature and ancient culture; to allow fracking here would be a disaster,” Environs Kimberley Executive Director Martin Pritchard said.

More than 23,000 voices, one clear message: ban fracking in the Kimberley.

“And Fremantle locals know it. It’s why they’ve been volunteering in droves to put up yard signs committing to vote for a candidate who will ban fracking, attending local events, and reaching out to their friends and neighbours asking them to join the momentum," he said.

“The only people who support fracking are the gas companies chasing bigger profits. Those who know about the toxic pollution and damaging production methods are completely opposed.

“This 23,000 signature petition is a powerful message to the Cook government and the Minister for Water, Simone McGurk that people want fracking banned in the Kimberley like it is in the southwest of Western Australia.”

Fremantle locals know fracking Kimberley would be disastrous.

Lock the Gate Alliance spokesperson Claire McKinnon said: “We’re ramping up the pressure of our community campaign – that's driven by hundreds of Freo locals – calling on Simone McGurk to ban fracking in the Kimberley in the leadup to the WA election.

“These 23,000 petitions, plus our door to door and community event surveys have revealed without a doubt that Fremantle constituents want their local MP Simone McGurk to ban fracking in the Kimberley – and they’re willing to switch their votes over it," she said.

“Fracking, which requires a toxic cocktail of dangerous chemicals and huge volumes of water, poses a major threat to the Kimberley’s communities and its unique environment.

“WA Labor was right to ban fracking across the south west of the state, but leaving the Kimberley at risk exposed a double standard. This must be fixed.” 

You can send a message asking Premier Cook to ban fracking in the Kimberley here. 

Photos: John Reed.

The Cook government is meeting in Albany this week and will be discussing the WA carbon emissions policy which is the weakest of any jurisdiction in the country after the Northern Territory.

Community members and environment groups are calling on the Cook government to ban fracking in the Kimberley to match the 2018 McGowan government ban on fracking in the South West.

“The McGowan government banned fracking in the South West, correctly stating it wasn’t an appropriate industry for the region given how invasive and polluting gasfields are. Fracking in the Kimberley would be even more disastrous and the Cook government can instigate a ban at the strike of a pen with no cost to taxpayers and a huge saving in preventing massive carbon emissions,” said Environs Kimberley Director of Strategy Martin Pritchard.

“A plan by Texan company Black Mountain Energy to frack an initial 20 wells in the Kimberley is being assessed by the EPA. Over 1.6 million tonnes of CO2 would be released if approved and hundreds more wells would be required to make it financially viable.

“We’re already feeling the impacts of climate change in the Kimberley, with record floods and heatwaves, and fracking the Kimberley would add a significant amount of climate polluting emissions.

“The Cook government has an opportunity and responsibility to prevent a huge amount of carbon emissions from fuelling climate change by banning fracking in the Kimberley. We’re keen to hear a statement about this from the Albany meeting,” said Mr Pritchard.