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Truss over CSG

June 12, 2015 7:53pm
Godfrey, Miles The Daily Telegraph

DEPUTY Prime Minister Warren Truss has slammed his own party’s plan to ban coal-seam gas from the NSW Northern Rivers and said Australian households and businesses needed CSG.

NSW Nationals leader Troy Grant wants CSG permanently removed from the Northern Rivers after capitulating to a small number of anti-mining protesters who helped the Greens snatch the Nationals’ safe Ballina seat at the March state election.

The change in stance, which is backed by a significant number of Nationals MPs and would trigger massive compensation payments, has split the Coalition state government, with Premier Mike Baird refusing to back his deputy on the issue.

The comments from Mr Truss, the Nationals’ Federal leader, revealed the party’s divide on the issue, which increased yesterday as a motion to “take all steps necessary” to buy back CSG licences in the Northern Rivers was debated at the NSW Nationals’ annual conference.

It followed Mr Truss’s slapdown of Mr Grant yesterday, in which he said CSG was safe and carried economic benefits.

“The CSG industry is now accepted, particularly in the areas where employment is being created, and vibrant economies have been built in towns that were struggling in the past,” Mr Truss said.

“I think the (gas) companies have learnt a lot of lessons and know how important it is to be good citizens and that industry is going to be very important for Queensland. Australia will overtake Qatar as the world’s biggest exporter of gas in three years, so it’s an important industry for Australia.

“If NSW feels it is able to cut itself off from that revenue and from that employment ... well that’s a decision for them.”

Mr Grant told party members that the Nationals were taking “significant steps towards a gas-free Northern Rivers” and that the March election result taught the party “hard lessons”.