The Victorian Opposition has reversed its energy policy after local MP Simon Ramsay broke ranks to call for onshore gas exploration in the state.
The Opposition had supported the government’s moratorium on onshore gas remaining until 2020, before it dropped the position on Monday.
“I have been calling for conventional onshore gas exploration for some time,” Mr Ramsay said.
The Member for Western Victoria said the new policy would protect prices so homes and businesses could “stay warm, cook their meals, or operate.”
The Coalition vowed to keep a ban on hydraulic fracking and coal seam gas exploration.
“As a landowner and farmer, I remain completely unconvinced about the safety of fracking,” Mr Ramsay said.
Under the Coalition’s plan landowners would receive a 10 per cent royalty for gas from their land and had the right to refuse drilling, Mr Ramsay said.
The policy would require the Victorian Resources Minister to approve exports, he said.
Mr Ramsay found an unlikely ally in Federal Labor leader Bill Shorten, who called on the Victorian Government to explore onshore gas during his latest visit to Geelong.
But Acting Resources Minister Jacinta Allen warned the opposition would “take Victoria on a slippery slope“ back to fracking.
“They’ve so many different positions on this issue they just truly cannot be believed,” she said.
Ms Allan said the Victorian Government’s $40 million “science and evidence based“ gas program would find any viable reserves.
The Opposition’s backflip was to save “Malcom Turnbull’s political skin”, whose failure to introduce export controls had led to price rises, she said.
Friends of the Earth’s Chloe Aldenhoven described the Coalition’s new policy as “attempting to bribe landholders for drilling”.
Victorian reserves would require fracking during their life span to produce commercial quantities of gas, she said.
Ms Aldenhoven said the export of Australian gas overseas was driving prices up, not the Victorian moratorium.
“We already produce plenty of gas from Bass Strait.
“We call on the Coalition to tackle the real problem – national energy policy – rather than re-open the onshore gas debate in Victoria.”
Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry chief executive Mark Stone backed the Opposition’s new policy.
The government’s moratorium disadvantaged manufacturers, who consumed about 30 per cent of gas in the state, he said.
“When businesses face such steep increases in energy prices, it does not just impact them but all Victorians.”
