Premier’s position on oil drilling and fracking described as ‘disingenuous’ after debate

The South Australian premier, Jay Weatherill, did not oppose some of the country’s largest fossil fuel expansions during an environment-focused election debate, prompting conservation groups to question his government’s leadership on climate change.

On Tuesday the leaders of the four most popular parties answered questions curated by OurFutureSA, a coalition of 33 climate and nature groups who say they collectively represent 130,000 members in South Australia.

“The single biggest environmental challenge in our state, the nation, the world is action on climate change,” Weatherill said. “And I’m proud to say that this state government is a leader not just in the nation but in the world.”

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The state Labor leader listed his government’s achievements in renewable energy, which have attracted worldwide attention and proved popular with voters.

Weatherill said that those moves – which include shifting the state’s electricity supply from “basically 99% fossil fuels” to 48.9% – would be the dominant issues at voting booths.

“Make no mistake, this next election will be treated, whether we like it or not, as a referendum on renewable energy,” he said. “If we go down, they will be wagging their fingers at everybody around the nation, to say that’s what happens if you push too hard into renewable energy. That’s what the prime minister is trying to do and that’s what is going to happen.”

The audience applauded that statement but was less pleased when attention turned to large-scale fossil fuel expansions in the state.

Several companies including Statoil are lining up to explore for oil in the virtually pristine waters of the Great Australian Bight. The potential oil reserves there have been compared to the Gulf of Mexico, one of the world’s most productive off-shore oil regions.

Weatherill said he supported existing processes, where any application to drill for oil would be assessed by the federal regulator, the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Agency.

The Liberal leader, Steven Marshall, took a similar line, while the SA Best leader, Nick Xenophon, and the Greens leader, Mark Parnell, repeated their opposition to the proposed drilling.

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The parties lined up differently when it came to another proposed fossil fuel expansion – fracking in the state’s south-east.

The Liberal party has proposed a 10-year moratorium, supported by both the Greens and SA Best. The Labor party continues to support expansion of fracking there, despite strong community opposition based on fears about contamination of the water resources in the prime agricultural region.

“A government championing its climate change credentials while also pushing for massive expansions to the fossil fuel industry is pretty disingenuous,” said Peter Owen, the South Australia director of the Wilderness Society and spokesman for OurFutureSA.

“South Australia is currently supporting massive expansions to the climate damaging fossil fuel industry in the state’s south-east, north and offshore in the Great Australian Bight.

“This could lead to hundreds of times more carbon pollution than SA’s current emissions, completely undermining the government’s leadership position on renewables. We must stop the expansion of the fossil fuel industry to have any chance of providing our children with a liveable climate.”



• This article was amended on 21 February. It previously incorrectly stated that Chevron was involved in oil exploration in the Great Australian Bight. Chevron abandoned plans to drill there in 2017.