Shell calls students with ‘degrees in activism’ a barrier to growth Paul Garvey Resources Reporter AUSTRALIAN 14,10 2014 2:07PM THE head of Shell Australia has accused university students with “degrees in activism” of spreading misinformation and manipulating communities to slow the pace of development in Australia. Speaking at a business breakfast in Perth, Shell’s chairman in Australia Andrew Smith said rising activism boosted by digital communication was “fast becoming one of the greatest challenges facing Australian growth”. “Challenging decisions will face more effective campaigns of public outrage, some of it based on confected outrage whipped up by university graduates armed with degrees in activism,” Mr Smith said. “But we cannot allow these dynamics to halt Australian progress.” Shell has faced strong opposition from environmental groups across the country in recent years. It was a joint venture partner in plans to build a liquefied natural gas plant at James Price Point north of Broome, which has since been abandoned on economic grounds but which also faced strong opposition from activist groups. The company has also been caught up in the opposition to its work in the coal-seam gas sector in Queensland. Mr Smith said activists had been able to take advantage of concerns in communities that felt they had lost control of approval processes. “Fears within these groups are too often manipulated by interests that fill a void in knowledge, sometimes with misinformation,” Mr Smith said. He cited the debate about the impact of Queensland’s growing coal-seam gas sector on water supplies in the region as an example of the misinformation spread by activists. “Some farmers were used by anti-CSG activists, who fuelled fears about water contamination. All this despite overwhelming scientific evidence, and a strict regulatory regime,” Mr Smith said. “Years later, the industry is thriving, and these actions did little more than slow projects, add cost and divide communities. In the long term extra costs mean less jobs, less tax revenue and higher gas prices.” Shell is developing the world’s first floating LNG project, Prelude, off the northern WA coast and is studying the deployment of the same floating LNG technology at the Browse joint venture. It is continuing to study development options for its Arrow coal seam gas project in Queensland. Campaigners against the planned LNG project at James Price Point near Broome. Source: Supplied
Posted on: Tue, 14 Oct 2014 09:23:31 +0000
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