This week the nation has collectively mourned the loss of fifth generation Queensland farmer George Bender. It was a tragedy that George chose to take his own life rather than continue with his ongoing struggle against the gas industry.
What George stood for, quite simply, was the right for a farmer to say “No”.
Over the last decade, George has staunchly resisted the desires of big gas companies to install wells on his property.
He valiantly fought to protect the air, land and water from the inevitable permanent damage by the gas industry.
The impacts from extracting gas on neighbouring properties had caused his bores to run dry and bubble with noxious methane, something that was not caused by anything other than the mining activities in the area.
In reality, George Bender died from a broken heart, at witnessing first-hand the tragedy unfolding around him.
“The impacts of living in industrial gas fields are taking a huge and devastating toll on rural communities and farming families across Australia”, said Brett Hall, Farmer and Frack Free Tas spokesperson.
“We want the State Government to ensure that this situation never happens in Tasmania and the only way to protect our farmers and rural communities is for the State Government to legislate for a permanent ban on the use of fracking under any circumstances.”
The State government has committed to a 5 year moratorium on using fracking for the purpose of Shale Gas extraction but this does not include geothermal energy use.
In the 2015 Tasmanian review on fracking, it was confirmed that there is no known cost-effective way to treat contaminated flow back fluid from any forms of fracking.
There has been recognition of the dangers posed by ‘Fracking’ from all the political parties in the State, indeed this motion was passed at the recent ALP State Conference:
“Labor believes that ‘fracking’ unnecessarily threatens Tasmania’s reputation as a producer of clean fresh produce and is not often consistent with the aspirations of our rural communities. For these reasons, Labor supports a permanent ban on hydraulic fracturing (fracking) for the purposes of hydrocarbon extraction.
“Both parties have currently left the gate open for the use of hydraulic fracturing for the purposes of geothermal energy production even though this practice is known to bring to the surface large quantities of radioactive waste” said Mr Hall.
The time has clearly come for a fully legislated Permanent Ban on Fracking for any purpose in Tasmania.
