{"id":11062,"date":"2023-11-30T17:15:12","date_gmt":"2023-11-30T17:15:12","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/thestar.test\/2023\/11\/30\/csg-rebuffed-by-council\/"},"modified":"2023-12-02T18:29:13","modified_gmt":"2023-12-02T18:29:13","slug":"csg-rebuffed-by-council","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/blog\/csg-rebuffed-by-council\/","title":{"rendered":"CSG rebuffed by council"},"content":{"rendered":"
\t\t\t\tThursday, October 30th, 2014<\/span> | Posted by SiteAdmin<\/a><\/span> \t\t\t<\/div>\n

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CSG rebuffed by council<\/h1>\n
\"Photo<\/a><\/p>\n

Models for a gasfield free South Gippsland: Melissa Ferretto, left, wearing a Gabriel Chapellene fascinator, and Alex Holness of Tarwin Lower wearing a Luna Moss floral headpiece dressed up in spring racing attire last week to spread the Lock the Gate message. With Flemington\u2019s big racing carnival getting underway this weekend it was the ideal opportunity to use fashion as the platform. Photo courtesy Shelley Price SJP Studios.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

COAL Seam Gas (CSG) protestors were outraged by the South Gippsland Shire Council\u2019s decision not to exempt the shire from CSG mining and exploration on Wednesday.
Protestors filled council\u2019s gallery during the ordinary meeting and were disappointed with the outcome.
Mayor Cr Jim Fawcett said he would not vote for exemption at this time because nothing has changed. He was supported by deputy mayor Cr Jeanette Harding due to the moratorium.
Cr Mohya Davies said with the moratorium in place, the motion to exempt the shire would be premature.
Cr Don Hill disagreed, saying the best time to exempt is now.
He and Councillors Andrew McEwen and Kieran Kennedy were in favour of exemption.
\u201cCSG and fracking is not going to go away,\u201d Cr McEwen said.
\u201cThis is just the beginning. The community has voted and 2000 people have signed petitions. On average, 95 per cent of the shire is against it. The message is clear.\u201d
CSG puts the agricultural production industry and the tourist industry at risk. Cr McEwen believes exemption would be the best move for the community.
\u201cA representative government is meant to speak on behalf of the community,\u201d he said.
\u201cOur community satisfaction is 14 per cent lower than the state average. We are not perceived as good at representing the community. This decision was critical for council.\u201d
Cr Kennedy said he did not want to see a landscape littered by disused mining wells.
\u201cThere is more respect for a council that advocates for its people,\u201d he said.
\u201cWe aren\u2019t asking for a precedent across the country \u2013 we just want to protect South Gippsland\u2019s past, present and future.\u201d
Cr McEwen said council needs to recognise there is a potential problem at hand.
\u201cWe\u2019ve been sold a major line by the CSG industry,\u201d he said.
\u201cMy view is this is a test that will come back to haunt the councillors.\u201d
Korumburra\u2019s Jo Hogan was disappointed with council\u2019s reluctance to act but said it was good to see three councillors willing to stand up and listen to the public\u2019s voices.
Independent David Arnault said CSG will dramatically alter the way of life in South Gippsland.
\u201cIt will reduce land value and truck traffic will triple,\u201d he said.
\u201cI have not heard of a gas field that hasn\u2019t polluted the water.\u201d
According to Mr Arnault, after four years of having a gas field in the area childhood asthma goes up by 40 per cent and respiratory, kidney and heart problems are increased as well.
Mirboo North\u2019s Phil Piper said he was bothered council is not taking the risks seriously.
\u201cI like living in South Gippsland and I want it to stay the way it is,\u201d he said.
\u201cCSG is a huge issue. In 2012, council saw a presentation on it but not much has been done since. It\u2019s a matter of getting its priorities right.\u201d
A policy forum was held in Mirboo North on Sunday, attended by Gippsland South MLA and Deputy Premier Peter Ryan, Labor\u2019s Harriet Shing, Independent Phil Piper and David Arnault, Andrea Milsom from the Greens and Dave Snelling of Australian Country Alliance.
It was an opportunity to hear the views of the candidates for Gippsland South and the Eastern Victorian Region on new coal development, unconventional gas and renewable energy.
\u201cI have lived in Gippsland for 40 years; it is my home,\u201d Gippsland South MLA and Deputy Premier Peter Ryan said.
\u201cMy only intention is to ensure we preserve and enhance the magnificence of that which we have and that we protect the many attributes which go into making up who we are and what we are as a Victorian community.\u201d
Mirboo North resident Greg Price said he is for many things but strongly against CSG.
\u201cI am for clean, renewable energy. I am for Mirboo North and healthy farm land,\u201d he said.
\u201cI am against filthy fracking and I\u2019m against those who make money from methane.\u201d
Around 96.6 per cent of Mirboo North residents said no to CSG when surveyed. Mirboo North was declared CSG free earlier this year.
Poowong, Poowong East, Poowong North, Kongwak, Bena, Moyarra and Jumbunna are the other South Gippsland towns that have declared CSG free.
Three more towns are moving towards independence with Koonwarra and Nerrena completing their public surveys and Korumburra has held an information night.<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPosted by SiteAdmin<\/a> \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\ton Oct 30 2014. Filed under Community<\/a>, Featured<\/a>, News<\/a>. \t\t\t\t\tYou can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0<\/a>. \t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tYou can leave a response or trackback to this entry\t\t\t\t\t\t \t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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Thursday, October 30th, 2014 | Posted by SiteAdmin CSG rebuffed by council Models for a gasfield free South Gippsland: Melissa Ferretto, left, wearing a Gabriel Chapellene fascinator, and Alex Holness of Tarwin Lower wearing a Luna Moss floral headpiece dressed up in spring racing attire last week to spread the Lock the Gate message. With […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11062"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11062"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11062\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14848,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11062\/revisions\/14848"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11062"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11062"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/thestar.com.au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11062"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}