Following the failure of the NSW Government to control coal seam gas mining, the Australian Greens are calling on the Gillard Government to support the Greens’ bill to protect our water resources from coal seam gas mining.

Senator Waters’ bill, first introduced in 2011, would add a ‘water trigger’ to our federal environmental laws which would give the Federal Government the power to approve or refuse coal seam gas developments based on their impact on water resources.

After years of calling for independent measurement of how much gas leaks to the atmosphere from coal seam gas fields, and following the Government's refusal to include climate impacts in the work plan of the independent expert panel on coal seam gas, the Greens are today writing to the Prime Minister and Minister for Climate Change calling on them to immediately fund a full field study.

I am so glad that all of you have taken the time to be here today, and if the Australian Senate wasn't sitting, I would be with you as well.

I have been a Senator for just over a year, and in that time I have met and spoken with hundreds of people who have selflessly devoted their time, their hard work and their passion to this cause, just like you.

The truth is, Australian communities in the bush, and the city, are really concerned about coal seam gas and worried that it's a danger to our water and our land.

And the truth is, you're not wrong.

Coal seam gas has never been proven safe for the long-term future of groundwater resources and the Australian Petroleum Producers and Exploration Association (APPEA) must correct its $2.5 million spin campaign immediately, the Australian Greens said today.

“Scientists have not yet been able to establish the long-term safety of CSG drilling and fracking on our groundwater resources. Any statement to the contrary is completely false,” Australian Greens mining spokesperson, Senator Larissa Waters, said.

“I refer APPEA to the following statement from CSIRO, which reads;

The pollution from coal seam gas mining that drives global warming is likely to be at least double the current estimated levels, according to a new study released today by The Australia Institute.

This new information undermines the industry's claims to be a clean energy source and a transition fuel, and emphasises the need for Australia to move to established clean and renewable energy sources instead, such as wind and solar, which are already beginning to outcompete fossil fuels on pure economic grounds.

Australian Greens Deputy Leader, Adam Bandt MP, will today move an amendment to government legislation establishing a coal seam gas advisory committee, to press pause on further coal seam gas approvals while the five year research program of that committee is undertaken.