Anti-CSG group demands Qld inquiry

THE Queensland government is facing calls for a full public inquiry into rushed CSG project approvals.

Former Queensland bureaucrat-turned whistleblower Simone Marsh claims approval for an $18 billion Santos project and a $20 billion Queensland Gas Company (QGC) project in 2010 was rushed through without crucial information.

The senior environmental specialist told the ABC's Four Corners program she and other decision-makers did not have information necessary to properly assess the environmental impact of the projects.

A spokesman for Deputy Premier Jeff Seeney says the claims are nothing new and are under investigation by the Crime and Misconduct Commission (CMC).

The government will not be commenting on the issue, he says, but green groups aren't holding back.

The Lock the Gate Alliance says the CMC should hold a public inquiry to address the issue.

"Any public servant who has signed an environmental authority for any of these projects has breached several sections of the Environmental Protection Act and, therefore, is likely to have committed official misconduct," Mr Hutton said.

"This situation came about because of improper political pressure that was placed on the public servants, as Simone Marsh has described."

Santos and QGC agreed with the government that the allegations had been aired previously.

They said they complied with all government requirements and did not try to influence the approvals process.

Industry spokesman Rick Wilkinson, who heads the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association, told the program the right procedures were followed.

"And there were many checks and balances on the way through," he said.

Opposition Leader Annastacia Palaszczuk said as far as she knew, there was not a push to approve CSG projects under the former Labor government.

"I do not recall any pressure whatsoever," she said.

"I know we had strict environmental guidelines. I know that these guidelines were followed; however I was not the minister responsible.

"So I am not going to speak for the other ministers."

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No more 'JuLiar': PM's office 'demands respect'

Time for respect: Julia Gillard. Picture: Kym Smith Source: The Daily Telegraph

• MP shocked by personal attacks on PM
• Julia Gillard's "office demands respect" 
• Polls: Ms Gillard back in front

AN OPPOSITION MP is calling for an end to the nasty name-calling and personal attacks on Prime Minister Julia Gillard.

The Nationals' back bencher Darren Chester said he was shocked by the "increasingly personal and vicious nature" of some comments from members of the public and urged an improvement in standards of political debate.

"They are comments they would not like said about their own mother or daughter or wife and I think it's inappropriate to treat the Prime Minister like that," the MP for the Victorian seat of Gippsland told reporters in Canberra.

"Not because she's a woman but because her office demands respect and I think we should make sure that these comments are not of a personal nature, that they are focused on the policy."

The Prime Minister has for two years been subjected to taunts such as "Ju-Liar" by a small but vocal slice of the national electorate, and referred to as a "witch" and a "bitch" at anti-carbon price rallies.

Mr Chester's appeal for an end to name-calling in politics was his own idea and could get him into trouble from some of his Coalition colleagues.

However, it does fit neatly with the Opposition's preference for Ms Gillard to stay in the job rather than see her replaced by former Labor leader Kevin Rudd.

And it came as Newspoll published today reported a spurt in the Prime Minister's personal ratings.

She is back to preferred Prime Minister, 42 per cent support to Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's 38 per cent.

And pollster Martin O'Shannessy has pointed to Ms Gillard's performance in western Sydney last week as part of her personal rating lift.

Ms O'Shannessy said over the previous three polls Julia Gillard and Tony Abbott had been no closer or no further apart than two-to-four points.

The Newspoll finding of a three-point increase in Labor's primary vote to 34 per cent eased pressure on Ms Gillard's leadership, although the Opposition remained well ahead.

There was relief among Gillard backers with one cabinet minister saying of the poll results: "Thank heavens".

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