Hundreds of people attended a rally against fracking outside Parliament House in Darwin on Saturday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Organisers estimated about 600 people attended.
Between 10-15 people gave their support from Katherine.
Many people travelled long distances from remote communities calling on the Nt Government to makes its moratorium on onshore gas devlopment a permanent one.
Lauren Mellor from Territory Frack-free Alliance was one of the main organisers of the event, which featured several speakers from Victoria, where fracking is banned..
The Water is Life rally will meet at Parliament House at 10am, and is timed to coincide with the final sittings of NT Parliament for 2017 and the handing down of a draft final report from the NT Fracking Inquiry, expected before the end of the year.
Participants are calling on the NT Government to give all government members a vote on the outcome of the Fracking Inquiry report, not just the eight predominantly Darwin-based Cabinet members.
Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association spokesman Matthew Doman said Territorians would be better to listen to NT pastoralists and Traditional Owners who have hosted oil and gas activities on their land than Victorian farmers who haven’t.
“Industry recognises there are genuine questions and concerns in the community – and these should be addressed in the upcoming report of the fracking inquiry.
“There are also those who pedal false and exaggerated claims and are simply not interested in the facts – and it’s hard to see what meaningful contribution they can make to decisions on the development of the Territory’s natural resources.”