Strategies in Action

Offshore NMBI Action Kit

This Action Kit makes it easy to help build public support for a ban on new offshore oil and gas. There are social media auto-share links, and materials and tips for talking with Senators and federal MPs. There is also a sample email you can copy and/or modify to send to Senators.

Senators may be just as shocked as you and I to hear that we receive so little economic benefit from allowing new projects!

Image to share (from 2017)

For talking with Senators and federal MPs

The petition is now closed, but take a look at the talking points below the petition signing form on the offshore petition page to familiarise yourself with the issues involved with banning new offshore oil and gas projects.

The main points are:

  • Any new fossil fuel extraction projects put us all at greater climate risk.
  • We don’t need new offshore projects to guarantee domestic supply while we transition to renewable energy – we already export half the gas we produce.
  • Any new gas projects will simply mean more LNG exports, in many cases by foreign companies – their shareholders benefit from the gas sales, not us.
  • Banning new offshore projects would cost us almost nothing in lost economic benefit – offshore projects don’t pay state royalties, and new projects will pay nothing in PRRT or income tax for many years.

We have everything to gain and almost nothing to lose by banning new offshore oil and gas.

If you wish, you could download the short offshore NMBI Powerpoint presentation at left and take it along on your laptop or tablet to show parts of it to your local Senator or MP (or just to remind yourself of topics to cover), or simply print the sheets that you think you’ll find useful to leave with your Senator or MP.

Statement of Support sheet for Senators and MPs

Download the above sheet as a pdf file, print, then ask your local Senator or MP to sign. Take a photo (landscape orientation preferred) of them holding up the signed sheet, and email it to us for inclusion in social media.

Email blitz to Senators

We don’t have the automated email blitz mechanism enabling you to email Senators with the click of a button, but manually sent emails carry much more weight. There is a sample email below that you can copy or modify if you wish.

We believe many Senators may be unaware of the issues related to offshore oil and gas, and not yet know we are calling for a ban, so we think it will help a lot if you can spend a few minutes emailing Senators in your state.

Dear Senator [name],

I was shocked to learn that Australia gets almost no economic benefit from allowing new offshore oil and gas projects. In 2015/16 companies like Chevron, Shell, Inpex, and Santos (Gladstone LNG) paid no Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) and no income tax despite exporting billions of dollars of LNG.

We need to reduce carbon emissions for climate reasons, and should leave fossil fuels in the ground even if it means losing short-term economic benefits, but exposing Australia and the world to greater climate risk for no good reason seems like madness.

We don’t need new offshore projects to guarantee domestic supply while we transition to renewable energy. We already export well over half the gas we produce.

Any new gas projects will simply mean more LNG exports, in many cases by foreign companies. It is their shareholders who benefit from the gas sales rather than the Australian economy.

Banning new offshore projects would cost us almost nothing in lost government revenue. Offshore projects don’t pay state royalties, and new projects will pay no PRRT or income tax for many years. Even if PRRT settings were to be changed to increase PRRT revenue from new projects, as some suggest, banning new projects would still be one of the easiest and most cost-effective ways of reducing future carbon emissions.

Please call for a ban on all new offshore oil and gas projects. We have everything to gain and almost nothing to lose.

[Your name]