Daniel Fuller – 11 May 2014

To The Commissioner,

As a citizen of the democracy of Australia I wish to assert my right to voice my opinion regarding the use of hydraulic fracturing to explore and establish extraction sites for shale gas deposits in Australia and specifically, my home, the Northern Territory.

I oppose it.

Other submissions on the inquiry web site have adequately covered the majority of my concerns however there is a few things I would like to say.

Any citizen that values environmental and human health that takes the time to educate themselves regarding the more recent forms of this process as a tool for small multiple site extraction and the insidious nature of its outcomes would oppose its use until the exact cause of the effects apparently being suffered by humans elsewhere, is determined.

The question is, will the Northern Territory Government? In particular, will the Chief Minister?

An “independent” inquiry funded by a small Government already afflicted by severe economic cut backs, into a raging international debate of human health significance is an insult to the intelligence of the citizens of the N.T whom are at risk of suffering the consequences of an predetermined, manipulated outcome.

With limited time and financial resources to conduct such an inquiry, it would be negligent in my opinion, for our Legislative Assembly to further modify related legislation if the majority of data and information were to be sourced from the petrochemical industry.

With respect to the Commissioner, history has established that this industry is well funded, employs people educated far beyond the scope of our Ministers as a whole, is cohesive in its approach to achieving its goals on issues such as this through industry organizations such as The Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, funding “independent” research and educational projects and manipulating the outcomes to appropriate their objectives.

Aside from being responsible for a large percentage of the worlds major non natural environmental disasters and the resultant collateral damage, the industry is in human terms, untrustworthy. Emotional perhaps, but then this inquiry could be determining the debate of whether our governance values citizen humans as being more important than short term economic objectives that will benefit few financially in the long term.

Specifically, I have the following concerns based on the modern history of this process and the industry that undertakes it.

Daniel Fuller