WA Labor leader Mark McGowan announced a policy to ban fracking in the South West, Peel region and Perth metropolitan area including the Swan Valley if his party is elected in March.
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The move comes after Collie Preston MP Mick Murray and South West MP Sally Talbot launched a campaign in July to help protect the region’s agricultural land, tourism and water resources from hydraulic fracturing.
Mr McGowan said that Mr Murray had surveyed his electorate about the issue of fracking in the South West and agreed with people that fracking was unsuitable in the region.
He said a combination of the Yarrgadee aquifer and land use patterns on the surface were inappropriate to allow fracking in these regions.
“It is very important we send a clear message,” he said.
“There have been applications to frack and one that was particularly galling to me was an application to frack Bunbury, for goodness sake.”
Mr McGowan said the he could not imagine anything “more ridiculous.”
“Because of applications over communities like Bunbury and the Swan Valley we need to make a clear statement that this is unacceptable,” he said.
“There are other applications out there to frack parts of the Swan Valley these sorts of things need to stop and the best way to make sure that stop is to make sure that as a government we ban fracking in these regions.”
Mr Murray said he was an anti fracker and it was great that his colleagues supported his campaign with Ms Talbott to ban fracking in the region.
“I have listened and I have taken it to our group and we have come back with a policy that reflects the people of this area.”
Busselton resident Geoff Leevers said while he supported the idea to ban fracking in the region the policy did not go far enough.
Mr Leevers said the whole argument about an onshore gas industry in the South West got caught up in the fracking debate.
“No gas fields in the South West, we do not want any onshore gas, we want investment in new renewable technology, we do not want greenhouse gases pulled out of the ground and squirted into the air,” he said.
“While Mr McGowan and Mr Murray have come out and said they will ban fracking does that mean they would honour existing contracts which are well underway?
“It is very scary what they have proposed down here and they are not telling us what is going on. The Liberal government are promoting fracking and saying hey come on you guys come and frack WA.”
Liberal member and Vasse MP Libby Mettam said Labor’s announcement was a scare campaign and reaffirmed her commitment to protecting the environmental assets of the South West.
Ms Mettam said calls for a “fracking ban” were meaningless and only sought to con people that an issue existed when there was not one as the practice could not and would not happen in the region.
“From day one I have declared publicly that I would not support any proposal which undermines the values of this region and that includes any potential proposals for this activity,” she said.
“All mining companies have ruled out fracking as unviable and the geology of the area itself meant fracking would not exist down here in the region anyway.
“In relation to Whicher Range, both operators have stated there will be no fracking. You can not get much more black and white than that.”
For Boyanup landowner and retired equestrian trainer Kathy Thomson a few issues were overlooked by Labor’s announcement to ban fracking in the region.
Ms Thomson said fracking was only one way to extract gas and the announcement did not offer her any security as a landowner.
“It does not give me the right, as a landowner, any any right of veto, my property could still be taken over by a gas company,” she said.
“The policy is a great start, my hope is they will go further and just ban any idea of allowing gas fields in the South West.”
Frack Free Future campaign coordinator Jules Kirby welcomed the announcement but warned Labor against too narrow an interpretation of their proposed fracking ban.
“Mark McGowan’s announcement of WA Labor plans to ban fracking in the South West is excellent news and will win plaudits across the region” she said.
“Labor has already committed to a statewide fracking moratorium - declaring permanent regional ‘no-go’ areas is a necessary and sensible extension to that policy. People in the Mid West and Kimberley will now want to know if they'll be offered similar protection.”
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