Plans for the largest seismic testing survey in Australian history have been abandoned days before the application was expected to be resubmitted. Community groups spent months protesting the project with surfers staging multiple paddle outs along the southwest coast.
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00:00I think this is a huge victory for the environmental movement, all the thousands, tens of thousands
00:07of surfers who showed up to protect their ocean. I have to say Surfers for Climate was
00:11just one organisation that worked on this. Over a number of years, it wasn't just a number
00:14of months, this has been going on for quite some time to try and protect that southern
00:18sea country. So a huge shout out to the Marine Conservation Society, Surfrider Foundation,
00:23SOPEC, Ocean, Friends of the Earth, all those local communities and surfers beyond who actually
00:28wanted to see this done and dusted. The original plan was to blast about 7.7 million hectares
00:35of ocean. And when you say blast, what do you mean? Seismic blasting, it's literally
00:42letting off explosions so you can see, so you can map the ocean floor and also what's
00:46beneath that ocean floor when it comes to the oil or gas resource that people want to
00:50get their mitts on and burn so that we can add more carbon pollution to the fire that's
00:54already burning. And so why explain why you were so concerned about that process? Look,
01:00ultimately seismic blasting at such a large scale has a tremendous impact on marine life.
01:07It's a problem in that respect, but it's what they're also looking for that's ultimately
01:11the bigger problem. We don't need to be looking for new oil and gas reserves in this country.
01:16We export enough of it. We can figure out how to look after our system of fossil fuels
01:21that we use at the moment, but looking for more that will just add fuel to the fire is
01:25something that Surfers for Climate and many other organisations are completely against.
01:29And we've just been seeing some of the images. There was a beach protest as well. So it's
01:35been a huge community effort, has it? Yeah, it's huge. There's tens of thousands of coastal
01:39people and surfers who have shown up to protect their ocean. And I think the interesting takeaway
01:44from all of this is that politicians need to pay attention. People really want them
01:49to take leadership for a clean and healthy ocean and they don't want fossil fuel extraction
01:53to be part of that future for our ocean. Are you confident this is done and dusted now
01:58or could pop up again? Look, this is a victory and everyone always says in the environmental
02:02movement you've got to take the wins and celebrate. So I hope that all of the organisations and
02:07all of those community members who have fought so hard, they've done submissions to the NOPCEMA
02:11process, they've spoken to their local politicians, they have shown up and made their voices heard
02:16in paddle outs and all of those other amazing things that happen. But ultimately, if we
02:21want to see an end to new oil and gas in our ocean, we need the leadership from this country
02:25to say we're going to stop looking and focus on solutions instead. And what's happening
02:29with the possibility of offshore wind projects down that way? Look, there's a process underway
02:34to determine offshore wind in our ocean. Of course, with surfers, are we for it? Are we
02:41against it? Look, at Surface for Climate, we took a position to support a responsible
02:46approach to offshore wind. What does that mean? It means holding the proponents who
02:51are going to explore for that resource in our ocean as well to be held to a high standard.
02:56If it doesn't stack up according to the legislation, then it shouldn't go ahead. But in principle,
03:02we support the shift to renewables in this country. Offshore wind, large scale offshore
03:06wind can play a huge part in getting us off coal and it can be that sustainable resource
03:10that powers our systems. What do you say to your opponents who allege that you have
03:14double standards because you're still supporting something that does some kind of damage to
03:19the environment? Ultimately, everything does some damage to something when you talk about
03:24development. I think the best thing you can always do is understand the system that you're
03:28working with, get to know the ocean and how wonderful it is, and take measures that can
03:33mitigate any damage to it. Ultimately, the biggest risk to our ocean is climate change,
03:37global warming. That's the big one. Navigating that path to how we get off fossil fuels,
03:43which we certainly know contribute to the problem, and getting on to renewable resources.
03:47It's not an easy task, but it's one that I think every Aussie should get to know and
03:51enjoy and get to know the ocean, celebrate it. Are there any other projects that you've
03:55got an eye on at the moment in terms of protesting against? Look, Surfers for Climate itself
04:01takes the role of advocacy. We like to build what we call a take-off point on the party
04:06wave of climate action. We like to educate our community on the opportunities that the
04:10shift to renewables bring in our economy. We like to talk to politicians in a respectful
04:16and polite way about such opportunities, because we think that there are tremendous opportunities
04:20that sit with us right now to get off fossil fuels. All we need is leadership to grasp
04:25those opportunities and move the country forward. It's not complicated.