Call for LNG moratorium

Senator Larissa Waters is concerned about the pace of development in Gladstone Harbour.

Lisa Griffin

LOOKING out over the view of Auckland Point yesterday, the first thing Senator Larissa Waters did was ask about the mound of white powder piled up at the wharf.

The second thing she did was call for a moratorium on development connected to the CSG/LNG industry.

“This is not what the people of Gladstone want,” she said.

Dismissing the employment opportunities and economic imperative for development, Senator Waters said the benefits for locals were minimal.

“The concerning thing is, for a start there's not many locals being employed in the LNG industry and the ones who are being employed are simply being taken from existing jobs,” she said.

“They're making a lot of dough and that's great, but where do the people in town get their car fixed?”

Senator Waters said overseas investors were getting rich while residents bore the brunt of high living costs and the degradation of marine life.

“All the profits are going offshore and we're left with the environmental legacy of a destroyed harbour and a Great Barrier Reef under threat. It's a perfect storm,” she said.

UNESCO's “please explain” to the government on the pace of LNG development was a disgrace, Senator Waters said.

“If you'll pardon the pun, when they harbour concerns it's not an administrative slap on the wrist, it's an indictment,” she said.

“It's true there's already industry in Gladstone but that evolved over time, she said.

“The Federal Environment Minister should rethink the scope and the scale of these projects.”

Who is Larissa Waters?

• The first Green Senator elected to the Upper House from Queensland
• An environmental lawyer by profession,
• She ran for office after becoming “frustrated with the limits of the law” to stop damage to the environment
• A mum with a 2 year old daughter