Friends of the Earth (FoE) Melbourne  is a non-for profit organisation working for a socially equitable and environmentally sustainable future. The international Friends of the Earth network is  active in 77 countries with over 2 million members. Read more.

After a brilliant five year campaign which saw 75 Victorian communities declare themselves gasfield free, Victoria will be the first Australian state to permanently ban unconventional gas drilling and the process of fracking.

The gas industry hates the ban. The federal environment minister Josh Frydenberg has opposed it, as has the industry group APPEA, Shell, the conservative press, and the Victorian Coalition. They worry (with good cause) that our victory here will encourage other states to go down the same path and create their own ban.

Friends of the Earth media release. December 7, 2016

Lakes Oil is seeking $2.7 billion in damages from the Victorian Government after the state moved to ban fracking. It claims that the permanent ban on unconventional gas drilling is "unlawful". The company has filed a writ in the Supreme Court.

Lakes Oil is part owned by Gina Rinehart's Hancock Prospecting. It has previously explored for gas in Gippsland and western Victoria and carried out fracking operations in Gippsland.

FoE campaigners in Adelaide and Melbourne have been heavily involved in the debate about whether South Australia will become the world's high-level nuclear waste dump. We've been working on the assumption that this campaign will run for 5‒10 years but the past six weeks have seen some remarkable developments ‒ most of them positive. The project was effectively killed off, then revived, and has hopefully been killed off again ... hopefully!

Farmers from across Victoria breathed sighs of relief today as the Victorian Government presented legislation to the Victorian Parliament, seeking to formally ban fracking and unconventional gas mining in Victoria.

The dangerous and controversial onshore gas mining process will be banned across Victoria once the legislation is passed by the lower and upper houses, expected to happen within the next few months.

2015 was the hottest year on record, and in February 2016, the world experienced weather that was 1.5°C above average temperatures for the first time. The Great Barrier Reef, tropical mangrove systems, and ancient Tasmanian forests are already being destroyed by global warming. Globally, the displacement of communities by climate change is already happening.

It is clear that the current warming of just one degree Celsius is not safe. Yet under current climate policies, globally we are heading to an overall warming of 3 – 4oC.

Locals from Mirboo North and surrounds were ecstatic to hear that mining company Mantle Mining walked away from their coal mining licence renewals last week. Six brown coal mining exploration licences in South Gippsland and the Latrobe Valley were cancelled.

“Communities in these licence areas have been very vocal over the past 5 years about the impact new green fields coal mining would have on their region. The potential for water contamination, destruction of prime agricultural farmland and the human health impacts have weighed heavily on a lot of people. There was no social licence or need for new coal mining in this area and it’s fantastic that this area no longer has to fight these mining interests. Agriculture and tourism will also benefit from this certainty so it’s a win for everyone” said Friends of the Earth Community Campaigner Ursula Alquier.