13th Nov 2019, 5:06 PM – Senate Motions - Climate Change - Liquefied Natural Gas

The majority voted against a motion introduced by WA Senator Jordon Steele-John (Greens), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate—

(a) notes that, in October 2019, the Conservation Council of Western Australia released its 'Clean State' report, which found that:

(i) LNG production in Western Australia (WA) is the fastest-growing pollution source in Australia, and has been the primary driver of recent national emissions growth,

(ii) the rapid expansion in LNG production in WA, in combination with inadequate carbon pollution controls, has had a dramatic impact on the State's total emissions—while all other States' emissions are falling, WA's have risen by 23% since 2005,

(iii) Chevron and Woodside are responsible for most of this pollution and there are no effective controls on their operations,

(iv) over the next 12 years, the total cumulative emissions from WA's five current LNG facilities (384Mt) will cancel out the entire amount of abatement expected to be delivered under the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF) (375Mt), at a total cost of $4.55 billion the ERF is effectively an Australian taxpayer-funded offset program for Chevron and Woodside's operations to 2031,

(v) offsetting LNG pollution in WA would create 4000 jobs, and

(vi) there is no such thing as clean gas; and

(b) calls on the Federal Government to:

(i) acknowledge the 'clean gas myth', and

(ii) commit to moving away from extracting and exporting LNG.