A permanent ban on fracking and all related exploration and development of unconventional gas will be introduced across Victoria.
The state government said today it would introduce the ban later this year, to protect the state's valuable farming sector. The ban has already sparked calls in NSW for the state government to follow suit.
"Our farmers produce some of the world's cleanest and freshest food. We won't put that at risk with fracking," Premier Daniel Andrews said.
"Victorians have made it clear that they don't support fracking and that the health and environmental risks involved outweigh any potential benefits."
A state parliamentary inquiry last year into the issue received more than 1600 submissions, mostly in opposition to fracking.
Australia has large reserves of coal seam gas, with an established export industry in Queensland. But hopes for onshore gas in NSW have faltered.
Energy retailer AGL abandoned its plans to develop a gasfield at Gloucester were abandoned in February amid community opposition, while Santos’ development of its Narrabri project have ground to a halt, hampered by a tough export market.
NSW Greens MP Jeremy Buckingham called on the Coalition to ban onshore gas and develop renewable energy instead.
“NSW demonstrated that the community opposition to coal seam gas was a powerful community and electoral force and the Victorian Government has clearly recognised that with this decision today,” Mr Buckingham said.
Fracking, the extraction of natural gas from coal seams, has proved controversial in Australia. The incoming Labor government has halted the pace of gas development, following an its election promise to place a moratorium on fracking.
"There has been a great deal of community concern and anxiety about onshore unconventional gas – this decision gets the balance right," Minister for Resources Wade Noonan said.
"We have carefully considered the Parliamentary Inquiry's key findings and recommendations, consulted widely and made our decision on the best available evidence."
Opposition to fracking has united farming and green groups,especially over concerns that seepage from coal seam gas mines could contaminate water supply.
In the US, federal seismologists have blamed widespread fracking in Oklahoma for an increase in earth tremors across the state.
Liberal party elder Peter Reith, who wrote a report for the previous Coalition state government in favour of fracking, lashed out at Victorian Nationals last year, saying they were "in bed with the Greens" to maintain the state's moratorium on coal seam gas.
The moratorium on fracking will be extended until June 30, 2020.
Exemptions to the ban include gas storage and carbon storage research.
Offshore gas exploration and development will also continue.
With Mike Foley
This story first appeared on The Age.
