No break for gas in activists' agenda - QRC

 

 

 

 

Queensland Resources Council Chief Executive Michael Roche has warned a meeting of gas industry professionals that their industry is under as much threat as their coal counterparts from activists trying to shut down the state’s resources sector.

Addressing a Queensland Petroleum Exploration Association (QUPEX) lunch in Brisbane today, Mr Roche said the campaign being waged against the coal industry had its roots in the perceived success of the anti-coal-seam gas movement.

‘The activists’ 2012 campaign manual – Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom – praises what it describes as Lock the Gate’s ‘phenomenal community backlash’ against coal-seam gas,’ Mr Roche said.

‘The document goes on to credit Lock the Gate with creating ‘unprecedented political opportunities for coal activists around the country.’

‘As we know the scare campaigns against the coal and gas industries are continuing and supported by other strategies including litigation to ‘disrupt and delay’ key projects, changing the economic narrative via bogus economic reports and denying all reputable forecasts with claims that fossil fuel demand is declining,’ Mr Roche said.

‘The campaign is sophisticated, well-funded and aimed directly at the heart of the Queensland economy.

‘The people running these campaigns are promoting ideology over reality without regard to the 400,000 Queenslanders whose livelihoods rely on their resources sector.’

Following on the release of an anti-coal activist checklist in March, the QRC has published an anti-gas scorecard that compares the progress of their campaign against strategies revealed in Stopping the Australian Coal Export Boom.

www.qrc.org.au