State says 'no' to fracking and coal seam gas with permanent ban

In a first for Australia, the state of Victoria has banned all fracking and coal seam gas exploration.

The government said the permanent ban on fracking and "the exploration and development of all onshore unconventional gas in Victoria" was an effort to protect the state's agriculture sector and regional communities.

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The legislative ban will be introduced later this year, according to a statement from Premier Daniel Andrews' office, and is being framed as a partial response to a parliamentary inquiry into onshore unconventional gas in Victoria that received over 1,600 submissions from the public — most of them against fracking.
"Victorians have made it clear that they don't support fracking and that the health and environmental risks involved outweigh any potential benefits," said Andrews.
He added, "Our farmers produce some of the world's cleanest and freshest food. We won't put that at risk with fracking."
The ban also ensures the extension of the 2012 moratorium on conventional onshore gas exploration until 2020, however offshore gas exploration will continue as normal.

However, the Australian Worker's Union (AWU) says the moratorium extension will threaten jobs.
"If new exploration and extraction is not allowed there will be an exodus of investment and jobs from Victoria," said AWU Victoria Secretary Ben Davis in a statement. "If anything, allowing new onshore conventional gas exploration and extraction reinforces the validity of the ban on fracking."
Meanwhile Greens party MP for Melbourne, Ellen Sandell, says the state Labor government hasn't done enough to rule out gas drilling. "We won't stop fighting until all onshore gas drilling is banned … Today's announcement is a big step in that direction - but we won't relax," she said in a statement.
A blanket ban on fracking is also being hotly contested in Australia's Northern Territory, where the Labor party (led by Bill Shorten, who is critical of fracking) won a state election Saturday. That led Matt Canavan, the federal resources minister, to suggest a fracking ban would be "an act of economic self-harm," according to the Financial Review.