By NIKKI TODD AND TANIA PHILLIPS
LABOR MP Justine Elliot should cross the floor on the issue of coal seam gas if her party continued to show support for the industry, the Greens said this week.
The Australian Greens made the challenge at Chinderah on Monday while launching their national policy to ban all new CSG mining in Australia.
The Greens are calling for no new CSG exploration licences to be granted in Australia and for those already issued to be revoked by state governments.
Australian Greens mining spokesperson Senator Larissa Waters questioned Ms Elliot’s ability to back up her stance against CSG inside the Federal Parliament and cross the floor if necessary.
“As people know, Labor members are prohibited from crossing the floor and they do so at the peril of their party membership,’’ Senator Waters said.
“If Justine Elliot needs to cross the floor in order to live with herself on CSG she is probably in the wrong party and what voters need to understand is it’s great to have a local member that cares about CSG but what counts is how she is able to vote in the parliament and if her party is silencing her, then a vote for Justine Elliot is a unfortunately a vote for CSG.
“If people want to stop CSG … they need to vote Green.’’
The challenge followed a pledge by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd last week that Labor would invest heavily in oil and gas research should it retain government – a move that appears to undermine Ms Elliot’s vocal stance against CSG.
Greens candidate for Richmond Dawn Walker said CSG was of grave concern in the electorate, even in the Tweed where the area’s water catchment around Clarrie Hall Dam was under threat.
“Clarrie Hall Dam, which is the major water supply for the Tweed, is under an exploratory licence,’’ Ms Walker said.
“To think that there could be CSG mining in the area that provides us with our fresh, clean water is very concerning and this is not a time to be talking about checks and balances; it is a time to say no to CSG mining.’’
But Ms Elliot said she was determined not to allow CSG mining on the North Coast.
“I’ve always said I’ll stand with the community and support them and I don’t want to see any CSG mining here on the North Coast, keeping in mind also that it’s predominantly the State Government that does regulate the licences,’’ Ms Elliot said.
“In terms of the federal area what we do is we brought in the water trigger for the Environment Protection Bio-diversity Act so we are limited to it in terms of what we can do.
“But I’ve made it really clear in future I will always stand with the community which would always mean saying no to Coal Seam Gas mining.’’
Nationals’ candidate Matthew Fraser said he did not believe CSG was the top priority in the electorate, saying cost of living and the economy were of more concern.
The Palmer United Party, whose candidate Dr Phil Allen is contesting Richmond, has called on the CSG industry to “take a breather until more research is carried out into its impacts’’.
