Central Coast Greens call on Coast Labor MPs to come out and back Greens Jeremy Buckingham & Tamara Smith’s bill to ban CSG in NSW.
“In the dying days of the State election campaign, Labor announced they would introduce a ban on CSG in the drinking water catchment of the Central Coast. In 2014, Luke Foley refused to back Jeremy Buckingham’s bill to protect the drinking water catchment of the Coast from CSG and new coal mining, so we were pleased to hear their change of heart right at the last minute before the election” said CC Greens spokesperson Kate da Costa.
“However, we need the three new Coast Labor MPs to recommit to this position publicly, as Jeremy Buckingham and Tamara Smith’s bill on banning CSG will be debated in Parliament next week.
“The CC Greens have attempted to contact the Labor MPs by email through the Labor Party and through Parliamentary emails, sent Facebook messages, and have phoned Kathy Smith’s office on May 15. However, it took a phone call on May 28 to David Harris’ office to get any response at all. He sent us a verbal message via his staff that the Labor MPs “position remains the same”.”
“The Greens think that Labor should make a public statement explaining exactly what their position is, and if that includes a ban on CSG on the Central Coast, we call on them to lobby their colleagues in Parliament to back this new bill. If they don’t, residents of the Coast might think the whole thing was simply an exercise to catch green votes”.
Petroleum (Onshore) Amendment (Prohibit Coal Seam Gas) Bill
http://jeremybuckingham.org/2015/04/30/greens-bill-to-ban-coal-seam-gas-will-provide-certainty/
http://www.nbnnews.com.au/2015/03/24/labor-unveil-csg-plan-for-the-coast/