2018-04-11
MEDIA RELEASE
6 April 2018
The next time the Liberal Party says oil in the Bight is “good for the economy”, point them to this, South Australia Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young said today.
"Risking thousands of jobs in fishing, tourism and conservation cannot be justified by claiming we can simply create other jobs cleaning up oil spills.
"It's offensive to South Australians that a big multinational company thinks we've got nothing better to do than cleaning up sludge and muck from an oil spill that would devastate our tourism and fishing industries.
"The fact that the Commonwealth regulator asked for more information as to how exactly an enormous industrial-scale environmental catastrophe would boost the economy is just as concerning. We trust regulators to protect our natural environment, not simply clarify how its destruction could be justifiable.
"These BP plans, that have now been transferred over to Statoil, show a spill would see 40 million litres of sludge and muck along our coastline.
"This would be devastating to SA's marine life, coast and Kangaroo Island. An oil spill could reach as far as WA and, Victoria and Tasmania.
"These applications for oil and gas drilling in the Bight must be stopped immediately. These multinational companies don't care about SA or our precious environment. Their profits all flow offshore but the environmental disaster of a future oil spill will stay with us forever.
"What BP says in secret is that we should be thankful for an oil spill. We should be saying thanks, but no thanks."
Media Release Healthy Oceans