Source : Perth Now news
Surfers have joined a chorus of local leaders and environmentalists opposing plans by One Nation in NSW to back a massive gas scheme, stretching from northern Sydney to Newcastle.
NSW One Nation leader Mike Newman on Friday revealed the party would not “stand in the way” of the PEP-11 project off the NSW Hunter coast if “commercial parties can find a way to make (the project) work”.
Mr Newman told The Australian the party was “pro-fossil fuel” and “pro-technologies that will reduce the price of energy”.
The former NSW trade commissioner to Japan said One Nation would also overturn a state ban on offshore gas exploration – PEP-11 is not, however, covered by the 2024 laws.
In a statement, Surfers for Climate said surfers, fishers, and their families had spent years fighting oil and gas projects along NSW’s coastline, from Newcastle to Sydney’s Northern Beaches.
Chief executive Josh Kirkman said backing PEP-11 would drag those communities “back into a fight they’ve already one”.
“Ask anyone who surfs, fishes, or just walks their dog along the beaches between Newcastle and Manly whether they want gas rigs off their beach. The answer hasn’t changed,” Mr Kirkman said.
“These communities spent years getting PEP-11 off the table, and they won. Now One Nation wants to make them fight it all over again? Madness.”
The PEP-11 project, led by Australian-based Asset Energy and Bounty Oil and Gas, was initially scuttled by former prime minister Scott Morrison in 2021.
An application by Asset Energy was again rejected by the Albanese government in 2025.
The Federal Court also threw out a 2026 challenge to that decision, though the matter still remains before the courts.
NSW Environment Minister Penny Sharpe rejected One Nation’s proposal.
In a statement, she said projects such as PEP-11 “risk devastating damage to Central Coast, Hunter and Sydney beaches and marine life”.
“The Minns Labor Government remains opposed to PEP-11 and seabed oil and gas exploration,” she said.
Wyong MP David Harris, whose electorate straddles the Central Coast south of Newcastle, said in a social media post rejection of PEP-11 was “a hard-fought win for our environment, our tourism, and our lifestyle”.
“But at the March 2027 election, One Nation is threatening to undo it all … a vote for One Nation is a vote to put corporate drill rigs back on our doorstep.”
The Wilderness Society and the Nature Conservation Council NSW (NCC) came out over the weekend in opposition to the proposal.
NCC senior climate campaigner Jacqui Mills said the “argument we need more gas supply is a furphy”.
“There is enough gas to go around, Australia needs to stop sending it overseas,” she said.
“That would bring down energy prices for households and businesses here in NSW.”
Mr Newman has thrown his weight behind coal-fired power in the state should One Nation prove successful in March, with the party focusing nationwide on grievances over rising electricity prices.
The former trade czar has, however, refused to submit One Nation’s policies to the Parliamentary Budget Office for independent costing.
