Tuesday, 12 May 2026

 Katherine COPSEY (Southern Metropolitan) (14:08): Last week Victorians woke up to the news that Labor has approved, in 2026, a huge polluting new gas project right near the Twelve Apostles, the largest gas project in the past decade. This project is locking Victorians into more expensive fossil fuels, meaning higher bills and more damage to our climate. It shows how beholden Labor is to the gas corporations that donate to their slush funds and that they will always put the interests of big gas corporations, like the fossil fuel industry, ahead of everyday Victorians, ahead of the climate and ahead of our pristine oceans. We know Victoria does not need more gas. We do not need more exploration. We do not need more extraction. We have plenty. The Labor government buys the gas industry’s lies around a domestic shortage. In fact we just export our gas, and we get a pittance because we do not charge effective taxes on it. At the same time we have an abundance of sun and wind for renewables here in Victoria. This government instead needs to provide more support for households and businesses to swap expensive, polluting gas for cheap, clean renewables and get rid of our dependence on volatile, polluting fossil fuels. They also need to get rid of their dependence on donations from the fossil fuel industry and they need to stop spouting gas industry lies.