Mining in our Parks

Ban oil in the Great Australian Bight

Leaked documents show an oil spill in our Great Australian Bight could be catastrophic, reaching as far as Bondi!

Drilling for oil is just too risky in the deep, wild waters of the Great Australian Bight – with the potential to devastate our marine life, local communities, fishing and tourism businesses.

Thanks to tens of thousands of outraged Australians, oil giants BP, Chevron have dropped their plans to drill in the Great Australian Bight.

But Norwegian explorer Equinor (formerly known as Statoil) is still planning to drill in the Bight, including within our Great Australian Bight Marine Park – one of Australia’s biggest, most long-standing and precious marine parks, home to crucial southern right whale and sea lion nurseries!

Too precious to risk

A Senate Inquiry report has already highlighted the risks of drilling for oil in the Great Australian Bight. It just cannot be done safely.

There is no better reminder of this than the 10-year anniversary of Australia’s worst oil spill – the Montara oil spill – caused by an exploratory oil rig off the Kimberley spewing oil for 10 weeks straight before it could be capped.

The Great Australian Bight is one of Australia’s high conservation marine environments, hosting not only some of the most important sponge gardens in the world, but the breeding, feeding, resting and migratory marine life including sealions, seabirds and an array of threatened species including the great whales.

Together with the Great Australian Bight alliance, The Wilderness Society, Traditional Owners and a growing number of local councils, we are calling for a ban on oil and gas in the Great Australian Bight.