{"id":2806,"date":"2019-05-16T18:56:38","date_gmt":"2019-05-16T18:56:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/?p=2806"},"modified":"2019-05-16T18:56:38","modified_gmt":"2019-05-16T18:56:38","slug":"approval-of-king-island-oil-and-gas-exploration-is-madness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/05\/16\/approval-of-king-island-oil-and-gas-exploration-is-madness\/","title":{"rendered":"Approval of King Island oil and gas exploration is madness"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Tasmanian Greens Senators Peter Whish-Wilson and Nick McKim have expressed dismay at\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/media-senatorwhish-wilson.cmail19.com\/t\/t-l-blyykhl-mkrlijktu-o\/\"><b>NOPSEMA&#8217;s approval<\/b><\/a>\u00a0of oil and gas exploration in the Otway Basin.<br \/>\nNOPSEMA this week approved 3D Oil\u2019s application to undertake seismic testing 18km west of King Island (Tas) and 56km south of Cape Otway (Vic).<br \/>\nSenator Whish-Wilson said, &#8220;This decision means we are one step closer to seeing oil rigs off Tasmania&#8217;s coast.<br \/>\n&#8220;This is madness. King Island has some of the most pristine waters in the world.<br \/>\n&#8220;Tasmania\u2019s entire tourism and fishing industries depend on our clean and green reputation. Yet the major parties, who take millions in donations from multinational oil and gas companies, are prepared to open up a whole new area for drilling and risk oil spills across the entire coastline.<br \/>\n&#8220;Seismic testing is also a threat to the health of our oceans. It has been shown to kill plankton and shellfish. But just how much harm it does to other marine life, including dolphins and whales, is unknown.<br \/>\n&#8220;The Greens will stand up for fishers and coastal communities in Tasmania and around the country. That\u2019s why we have drafted a\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/media-senatorwhish-wilson.cmail19.com\/t\/t-l-blyykhl-mkrlijktu-b\/\"><b>Private Members\u2019 Bill\u00a0<\/b><\/a>to ban all new offshore oil and gas exploration and extraction to be introduced in the new parliament.&#8221;<br \/>\nSenator Nick McKim said, &#8220;In the face of a climate emergency we must say no to all new oil and gas.<br \/>\n&#8220;A\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/media-senatorwhish-wilson.cmail19.com\/t\/t-l-blyykhl-mkrlijktu-n\/\"><b>report\u00a0<\/b><\/a>released last month by international NGO Global Witness found that the opening up of any new oil and gas fields is incompatible with the Paris climate agreement.<br \/>\n&#8220;Without a commitment to no new coal, oil or gas, no government can be taken seriously on climate action.<br \/>\n&#8220;The approval of oil and gas exploration off King Island should serve as a reminder to Australian voters on Saturday that both major parties are not serious about climate change or our precious environment, and that the big oil and gas donors call the shots in our parliament.<br \/>\n&#8220;The Greens want Tasmania and Australia to be leaders on tackling the climate emergency and reducing greenhouse gas emissions.&#8221;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Tasmanian Greens Senators Peter Whish-Wilson and Nick McKim have expressed dismay at\u00a0NOPSEMA&#8217;s approval\u00a0of oil and gas exploration in the Otway Basin. NOPSEMA this week approved 3D Oil\u2019s application to undertake seismic testing 18km west of King Island (Tas) and 56km south of Cape Otway (Vic). Senator Whish-Wilson said, &#8220;This decision means we are one step &hellip; <a href=\"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/2019\/05\/16\/approval-of-king-island-oil-and-gas-exploration-is-madness\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Approval of King Island oil and gas exploration is madness&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-aussie"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}