From 2011 until 2017, the Victorian community, especially regional communities in the south of the state, campaigned hard to win the ban on fracking and 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 Program has 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. We have until March to build a strong voice demanding that the state government acts to protect our state by extending the onshore gas moratorium for another five years.

We are organising state wide actions over the weekend of February 8 and 9 to get the issue on the government’s radar.

On Sunday the 27th of October, members of Energy Justice Victoria (EJV) visited Westernport Bay for the third week of the Fossil Frontlines Community Tour. EJV co-hosted a community meeting with local groups Save Westernport and Westernport and Peninsula Protection Council in the vibrant Balnarring township. 

On Saturday the 12th of October, members of Energy Justice Victoria (EJV) launched the Fossil Frontlines Community Tour with its first stop: a visit to Seaspray hosted by Gasfield Free Seaspray.

Seaspray is a small Victorian coastal town on the southern end of beautiful Ninety Mile Beach, around 32 kilometres south of Sale. A member of the Lock the Gate Alliance, Gasfield Free Seaspray was integral to the statewide campaign from 2011 to 2017 that gained the historic fracking ban from the VIC Labor government.

The Seaspray community, with so many others across the state, fought hard to see unconventional gas drilling (fracking) banned permanently for the benefit of water quality, tourism and farming in the area. The campaign also saw a temporary moratorium placed on onshore conventional gas exploration.

This moratorium will expire and be reassessed in June 2020.

(Photo credit to Stephen Issell)

From 2011 until 2017, the Victorian community, especially regional communities in the south of the state, campaigned hard to win the ban on fracking and 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, has been extended once, and will expire on June 30, 2020.

Before that date, the final report from the VIC Gas Program will be released, which is expected to highlight, in broad terms, where commercially viable gas resources might exist.

The Murdoch press and fossil fuel industry hate the moratorium and are campaigning to see it overturned. Without a major community mobilisation, we have to assume the government will bow to the industry fear campaign about energy prices and job loss, and let the moratorium lapse and open up exploration license opportunities for gas companies.

From 2011 until 2017, the Victorian community, especially regional communities in the south of the state, campaigned hard to win the ban on fracking and 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.

We have until 2020 to build a strong voice demanding that the state government acts to protect our state by extending the onshore gas moratorium for another five years.

Easy ways to support the campaign

1/ Sign the petition to the premier. You can sign it here.

2/ Join Friends of the Earth and community alliances for a statewide week of action from October 5 - 13.

Victorians know that we are facing a time of climate and ecological crisis. 

Winter has only just finished and we are already getting warnings of a horror bushfire season, with farming communities in the grip of severe drought.

But whilst Premier Andrews has taken commendable action on climate in the past, there is a huge hole in his government’s climate action. 

The announcement from ExxonMobil that it is planning to sell all its assets is enormous news for Gippsland.

The offshore oil and gas industry has been a creator of jobs and economic activity for decades and the sale will send shock waves through the region.

However, it is hard to imagine any company wanting to buy oil and gas fields that are clearly in steep decline.

Friends of the Earth media release. August 6, 2019.

The Federal Government has stepped up its attempt to bully NSW and Victoria into opening up new gas fields.

“This is part of a long running campaign by the fossil fuel industry and conservative MPs, with the support from some conservative and business media outlets” said Friends of the Earth co-ordinator Cam Walker.

“These groups continue to push the argument that the moratorium on onshore gas drilling and ban on fracking in Victoria are driving up gas prices for consumers. However, what we have is a failure of the market and government policy, not a lack of supply.”

Victoria is feeling the impacts of the climate crisis now. In 2019 alone we have experienced dangerous heatwaves and bushfires across the state, crushing droughts, severe weather, and coastal erosion already eating away our beaches. The science is settled and there is no doubt left that we need to take urgent action in accordance with IPCC recommendations to keep warming within 1.5 degrees, or we face climate catastrophe. 

We currently have a state government that is saying and doing a lot of good things on climate on one hand, but on the other hand supporting the continued growth of fossil fuels and hoping we don’t notice the discrepancy.