24 March 2015
NSW Liberals accuse Foley of populism
NSW Labor's proposed ban on Santos's $2 billion Pilliga coal seam gas venture has been branded "very frustrating" by manufacturers, while Resources and Energy Minister Anthony Roberts accused Opposition Leader Luke Foley of "pandering to inner-city greens".
Ben Eade, executive director of Manufacturing Australia, whose members include Incitec Pivot and BlueScope Steel, said that while community and environmental concerns needed to come "first and foremost", blanket bans, moratoria and unilateral red lights "send the wrong messages to market places where you want more participants in the gas supply chain".
"We'd be very concerned about an arbitrary red light," Mr Eade said on the sidelines of the Australian Domestic Gas Outlook 2015 in Sydney on Tuesday.
Mr Roberts said the policy laid out by Mr Foley last week had no base in science and was purely a populist stance designed to win votes in Saturday's poll. Santos's Pilliga project could eventually supply up to a half of NSW's gas requirements if it is developed.