The Australian Greens are calling for all coal seam gas projects to be put on hold until their environmental impacts are better known, following revelations about shortfalls in the approval process for two major developments.
A former Queensland bureaucrat-turned whistleblower claims approval for two major coal seam gas developments in that state was rushed and came even though decision-makers lacked crucial information.
Senior environmental specialist Simone Marsh was part of a Queensland government team which approved an $18 billion Santos project and a $20 billion Queensland Gas Company project in 2010.
She told the ABC's Four Corners program she did not have any of the basic site information, baseline studies and details about infrastructure placement which were necessary to properly assess the environmental impact of the projects.
Greens leader Christine Milne says the report makes it clear how inadequate is the scientific data used in the approval process.
Protection of Australia's agricultural land and water should be paramount.
"Food is the new oil and land with water is the new gold," she told reporters in Melbourne on Tuesday, adding the natural resources should not be compromised by allowing the wholesale destruction of farmland and aquifers by coal seam gas."
Greens senator Larissa Waters said there were many unanswered questions about CSG, yet the state and federal governments had pushed ahead with approving major projects regardless.
"It is about time we have a pause on this dangerous industry until we properly understand what's at stake," she told reporters.
Liberal senator Simon Birmingham said mining and CSG projects were important for Australia's future, but it was crucial they were managed in a way that ensured environmental protections.
The Greens would always oppose any mining project no matter how good the science was, he told Sky News.
Parliamentary secretary Matt Thistlethwaite said the Gillard government had done as much as it possibly could on CSG given planning, assessment and land-use management issues were the domain of the states.
The federal government introduced legislative changes to parliament in March to include water as a trigger in Australia's national environment law, so any potentially harmful projects would need the assessment of an independent expert scientific committee before being approved.
Senator Thistlethwaite said the government had listened to the concerns, especially from rural Australia, about the possible negative impacts of CSG on groundwater.
"We've moved as far as we constitutionally can to ensure that we're listening to the concerns of rural communities," he told Sky News.
