Tuesday, 18 November 2025

 Sarah MANSFIELD (Western Victoria) (23:43): (2139) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Energy and Resources, and the action I am seeking is for her to advocate to the federal government to stop ConocoPhillips from progressing their oil and gas drilling projects in the Otway Basin, including at the Essington-1 well.

The US fossil fuel giant ConocoPhillips this week announced that they have found a significant gas reservoir south-west of Port Campbell. This was part of test drilling for fossil gas in six locations off our Victorian and Tasmanian coasts that the federal Labor government has effectively handed over to fossil fuel giants to exploit for profit. Governments justify supporting these projects based on the great fossil fuel industry myth of a gas shortage in south-eastern Australia, which ConocoPhillips says is their target market, but this fails to take account of the rapid transition to renewables in Australia’s south-eastern states. The industry acknowledges that gas production at these sites is unlikely to add additional supply to the market within the decade, in part due to the lack of availability of critical drilling rig equipment.

Victoria has a legislative requirement to achieve 95 per cent renewable energy by 2035; that is a decade from now. What on earth are we going to do with bucketloads of gas in 10 years time that we do not need? I am fairly certain ConocoPhillips are going to keep drilling, and if we do not need the gas here they will just sell it somewhere else. Not only do not we need it but the risks of these projects in terms of our climate, marine environment and livelihoods are absolutely diabolical. Global emissions continue to rise as our fossil fuel consumption grows. Any hope of a survivable climate for our kids and their kids demands an immediate end to new fossil fuel projects. Allowing ConocoPhillips to proceed is, quite simply, criminal negligence.

Then there is Victoria’s marine environment. Gas exploration starts with seismic blasting, and that is something I have spoken about at length in this place. It is devastating to marine ecosystems. Fossil fuel giants also have an appalling track record of environmental vandalism – leaks, spills, accidents and leaving their old rusty infrastructure trash behind. ConocoPhillips has recently been reported to have downplayed and effectively covered up massive methane leaks at a gas plant in Darwin for years. The potential damage from an oil leak along Victoria’s south-west coast is truly frightening. Fossil fuel giants do not care about the cost to communities or the environment. For them, it is just the cost of doing business. Minister, if your Labor government believe in climate action, you should be doing everything in your power to stop ConocoPhillips gas drilling off Victoria’s coast from proceeding.