Australia needs to sink more gas wells - just not in the Liverpool Plains.
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Just ask acting Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce.
Speaking to media on Friday, the Member for New England warned of a gas "crisis" akin to a recent energy emergency that has left the British enduring "coldness and unemployment".
Mr Joyce opposed coal development in the Liverpool Plains, and he said he will take the same attitude to gas.
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"I'm certainly very supportive of opening up new gas reserves in Australia but not in the middle of the Breeza Plains, obviously," he said.
The state government's Future of Gas Statement, released in July, paved the way for future gas exploration across swathes of agricultural land, including near Breeza.
Mr Joyce said Australia is "making a lot of money out of other people's stupidity" as a result of local gas development and there is yet more money to be made.
"Look at the pressure that's going to come on it because of it, the money that can be made and the commercial pressure that's going to come on for the development of further gas fields," he said.
"No I don't support the destruction of aquifers and I don't support things on primary agricultural land, but if you're going to move away, all the way from coal-fired power stations, you're going to have to find another form of base load."
"I'm certainly very supportive of opening up new gas reserves in Australia but not in the middle of the Breeza Plains, obviously."
- Barnaby Joyce
Tamworth MP Kevin Anderson and Northern Tablelands MP Adam Marshall likewise oppose gas developments in their electorate. Shooters, Fishers and Farmers MP for Barwon Roy Butler also opposes gas development in his electorate.
The Future of Gas Statement extinguished thousands of kilometres of so-called "zombie" petroleum exploration licences, long since expired, including every inch of the Northern Tablelands electorate.
Like the 2020 Future of Coal Statement, the planning framework also identifies locations where the government considers gas development to be appropriate.
Land in both Liverpool Plains and Namoi Valley are open for development.
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