Disunity among the shambolic South Australian Liberals is already on full display over the State Government's plan to introduce legislation to remove the moratorium on hydraulic fracture stimulation in the South East.
Despite the Liberals insisting they are a pro-gas party and Ashton Hurn's insistence they would prioritise "affordability not ideology", senior figures including Shadow Energy Minister Ben Hood and federal Liberal backbencher Tony Pasin immediately rejected the move to end the moratorium.
Despite the Liberals supporting fracking across the rest of South Australia, they indicated they would not support a move that would ensure potential future gas resources are not unnecessarily ruled out at a time when South Australia and the broader east coast face increasing pressure on domestic gas supply.
However, that position was not shared by all across the party, with first-term MP for Grey Tom Venning telling ABC Regional Drive that he supported fracking because South Australia needs to be producing more of its own gas supply.
"Yeah, absolutely… we need to dig, drill, pay down the debt bill and invest in gas," he said when asked if he backed ending the moratorium.
"Because, of course, gas, which is dispatchable energy, actually determines the price of power in this state… so yes, we absolutely need more gas in the state."
When it was pointed out that his position was at odds with his colleague Mr Pasin, he said: "I'm not fully across what's going on in the south east in relation to fracking, but certainly in the North East, in Moomba and the Cooper Basin up there, whatever we can do to get more gas out and direct to Adelaide is a good thing."
The dispute continues the SA Liberals' chaos on mining and energy policy, with Mrs Hurn unable to distinguish between Net Zero and 100% net renewables during the March state election campaign, the parliamentary party and membership at odds over climate change policy and an election campaign move to roadblock rare earths mining in the south east criticised as "a cynical vote-buying exercise" by major industry group the Association of Mining and Exploration Companies (AMEC).
As put by Tom Koutsantonis
The deep divisions and cynically political motivations of the shambolic South Australian Liberal Party remain on full display.
Tom Venning, who represents northern South Australia, is all for promoting gas extraction, but his colleague Tony Pasin is dead against fracking in his own backyard.
The Liberals say they are serious about energy security and want to get more gas into SA, but at the first opportunity to allow even the possibility of this happening they return to their modus operandi of politicking and in-fighting.
Everyone in the Liberal Party knows the former Marshall Government's fracking moratorium was imposed for purely political reasons, and to the detriment of the state overall. The irony of that decision is that the Liberals haven't held the state seat of Mount Gambier since its then-incumbent Troy Bell's arrest in 2017 – before the moratorium was imposed.
South Australia shouldn't have to keep paying the price for the Liberal Party's politicking. The Liberals have been vocal about the need to unlock new gas potential and safeguard energy security – they must now follow Tom Venning's lead and support Labor's legislation.
