PERTH (miningweekly.com) – The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (Appea) on Friday warned that the Liberal Party was risking damaging investor confidence in South Australia, with its recent calls for a Parliamentary inquiry into hydraulic fracturing, or fracking.

The plea was expected to be tabled in Parliament next week, and was expected to take one year to complete.

“We need to have a Parliamentary inquiry so that all the facts are put on the table,” Mount Gambier MP Troy Bell was quoted by the ABC.

“That everybody gets the chance to have their say and that it's done in a way that's not biased one way or the other so the community can make a valid assessment of this activity in the south-east [is essential].”

However, Appea COO for the Western Region, Stedman Ellis, said the inquiry proposed by the Member for Mt Gambier had little basis in science.

Ellis said the South Australian Parliament needed to be wary that it did not provide a megaphone for people who want to undermine the industry and the investment and jobs it provided.

“South Australia has consistently been ranked in international surveys as the most attractive Australian state for oil and gas investment. But this hard-earned reputation will be at risk if groups ideologically opposed to the industry are given a platform to spread fear and misinformation.”

Ellis pointed out that numerous investigations and studies in Australia and abroad have already demonstrated that fracking, when properly regulated, posed minimal risk of environmental harm.

“This is also confirmed by the industry’s strong safety record here in South Australia where more than 700 wells have been ‘fracked’ in the Cooper basin without any adverse impact.”

He added that the industry was committed to genuine consultation with communities in south-east South Australia and to providing fact-based information to people who had genuine concerns.

Ellis warned, however, that some of the environmental groups opposed to fracking were not interested in facts, as proven by advertising claims made by anti-gas activists in Western Australia.

“These are the same groups who will be lining up to appear before a Parliamentary inquiry. MPs need to think carefully before giving them a licence to damage an industry that is important to the future of South Australia.”