From 2011 until 2017, the Victorian community, especially regional communities in the south of the state, campaigned hard to win the ban on frackingand the moratorium on onshore conventional gas drilling.
While fracking (unconventional gas drilling) was banned permanently, a moratorium was placed on onshore conventional exploration and drilling. This has been in force since 2014, and will expire on June 30, 2020.
In the next few months, the state government will decide whether to extend the moratorium or let it lapse. Over the past year, the Victorian Gas Programhas been investigating what onshore gas resources exist. Once the final report is released (likely to happen within the next 3 months), the government will make a decision about the future of the moratorium.
Once the final report is released, the government will consider whether to let the moratorium lapse. We wanted to demonstrate to the government before it took this decision that there is a strong community voice demanding that the state government acts to protect our state by extending the onshore gas moratorium for another five years.
A simple way to do this was to ask people to contact relevant members of government via social media. We held a weekend of action on February 8 and 9. Many people from regional Victoria and metro Melbourne joined in, with events in Warrnambool and iconic landmarks around Melbourne.
And it's not too late to influence the government. Please check here for details on how to get involved.
Below are some photos from the weekend of action (February 8 and 9, 2020).
ABOVE: Warrnambool
ABOVE: Casterton
ABOVE: Melbourne Concert Hall
ABOVE: Gippsland
ABOVE: western VIC
ABOVE: Grandmothers for Climate Action say #ExtendtheMoratorium
ABOVE: from Community Climate Action Series: 'Lots of concerned folk gathered together for the launch of our community climate action series & took the opportunity to send a clear message: The time for new fossil fuels is over'. #ExtendtheMoratorium
ABOVE: Coal Seam and Gas Free Kongwak & District (covering Bena, Kongwak, Wattlebank & Jeetho) declared themselves Gasfield Free with 97% local support. Now they say #ExtendtheMoratorium
ABOVE: Community Organising Fellowship participants
ABOVE: Drilling in Fed Square?
ABOVE: Flinders Street station
ABOVE: Gippsland
ABOVE: Greens MPs say Extend the Moratorium
ABOVE: 'Gippsland. 'Don't make us wear this hat again'.
