Tuesday, 17 February 2026

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (14:41): It was a huge win for people power when the National Offshore Petroleum Safety and Environmental Management Authority, the federal regulator for offshore fossil fuel drilling, rejected CGG Services’s proposal for seismic blasting off the Victorian coast last week. This rare rejection follows huge amounts of work from people like Yaraan Bundle and Southern Ocean Protection Embassy Collective, Ben Druitt and Fight for the Bight Port Fairy, Australian Marine Conservation Society, Otway Coastal Environment Action Network and Surfrider Foundation, who organised rallies and paddle-outs and more. Coastal communities turned out not only to attend these events but to make nearly 15,000 submissions, making sure NOPSEMA knew how destructive this project would be and how much the community opposed it.

Unfortunately, the fight is not over yet. These communities are being forced to play whack-a-mole with every new proposal that comes forward, because the Labor Party still supports these destructive new gas projects. In December last year federal Labor opened up five new areas for offshore gas exploration, while Victorian Labor approved two new gas projects. This risks seismic blasting that deafens whales and destroys sea life – all to drill for gas that will destroy our climate if it is burnt. As we celebrate this win for coastal communities and as these communities face ongoing impacts from disasters supercharged by climate change, we call again on Labor to stop new coal and gas projects to protect our climate and our pristine oceans.