Hanson backs SA members on fracking, unveils gas policy
After announcing her party’s gas policy at a major conference in Adelaide, One Nation leader Senator Pauline Hanson rejected claims her South Australian MPs were “hypocrites”.
One Nation Senator Pauline Hanson stood by her South Australian colleagues’ position on blocking the Malinauskas government’s controversial push to repeal a fracking ban in the state’s South East at a major oil and gas conference on Thursday afternoon.
Speaking to reporters in Adelaide after unveiling her party’s new gas exploration policy at the Australian Energy Producers conference, the outspoken Senator rejected claims One Nation SA was taking a hypocritical stance on the fracking ban repeal bill.
Flanked by fellow One Nation Senator Barnaby Joyce, Hanson backed her party in, saying it was “an issue for my members in South Australia”.
“I do not interfere,” she said.
“They’ve made a decision on that, that is their decision, and I’m leaving it up to the members in South Australia to make that decision.”
Hanson said she did not want to see fracking in SA’s South East because “that’s agricultural land and on the water table”.
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Earlier today, Energy and Mining Minister Tom Koutsantonis said One Nation was “hypocritical”, saying the party “ran on a platform of unlocking Australia’s energy resources”.
“When they’re presented with an opportunity to actually vote on the things that they’ve called for, they reject it,” Koutsantonis said.
“Pauline Hanson needs to come down to Parliament House… how about she tell them to do what she says, do what she tells everyone else to do, and let’s vote for Australia’s energy independence.
“Let the scientists decide whether it is safe, not Pauline Hanson.”
Koutsantonis also took aim at the South Australian Liberals during parliamentary Question Time today, contrasting the state Liberals’ stance on the moratorium with federal Liberal leader Angus Taylor’s support of fracking.
“We’re in the middle of an energy crisis and the Liberal Party’s talking about the cost of an energy bill … and what we’re attempting to do is lower those energy costs by getting more gas out of the ground, and they oppose it,” he said.
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One Nation South Australia leader and upper house member Cory Bernardi earlier shrugged off suggestions his party’s position on repealing a fracking ban in the state’s South East was inconsistent with pre-election policy.
Speaking exclusively with InDaily, Bernardi labelled Premier Peter Malinauskas a “showman”, and said he was “completely out of his depth on energy policy”.
Hanson’s comments on the fracking bill followed a speech to powerful oil and gas industry leaders at the Adelaide Convention Centre, at which she unveiled her pro-gas policy in which a One Nation government would take an early 30 per cent stake in gas exploration projects.
She also advocated for cutting red tape on gas projects and abolishing net-zero policies to support industry growth and stability.
“We want more gas, more oil and more energy to drive our economy forward,” she said.
“This bold, new strategy will be supported by One Nation’s longstanding policies of cutting red, green, black and blue tape and dumping net zero targets.”
Asked whether she thought the policy was at odds with One Nation SA’s position on fracking in the South East, she said: “No, I don’t”.
“I’m talking about Commonwealth waters, with the states it’s totally different,” she said.
The Malinauskas government hoped the removal of the ban, first established by the former Marshall Liberal government in 2018, could unlock new gas resources for the state.
Fracking processes have been controversial over fears it could affect underground water sources. Fracking is currently permitted everywhere in South Australia except for the South East, where the dominant industries are farming and winemaking.
The ban on fracking – a process for extracting gas from the ground that involves pumping chemicals and water into the ground to fracture rock – was won after intense lobbying by the South East community.
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