If you want to know what PM Scott Morrison is made of then you need only look at his record on the Australian gas sector. Recall this, via The Australian:
Centre Alliance has received a written guarantee outlining the Morrison government’s gas policy, which the key minor party demanded in exchange for its support for the $158 billion personal income tax cuts package.
The copy of the draft gas policy, which has been signed by the government, was given to Centre Alliance senators last night ahead of a crucial vote in the Senate today on the tax cuts.
Centre Alliance senator Rex Patrick told The Australian in June he wanted a “clear understanding” of the government’s intention on gas, and the details in writing, before supporting the tax cuts.
Senator Patrick told The Australian the document detailed the measures of the government’s gas plan and the timetable in which they would be rolled out “over the next few months”.
A part of the deal was a review of the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism which concluded:
The review recognises that price is an important indicator in establishing whether the domestic market is functioning effectively and considers that the ACCC’s forward LNG netback price series is the most applicable prices when estimating the likelihood and extent of a potential shortfall. As such, the review recommends amending the ADGSM’s guidelines to include referencing the ACCC’s LNG netback price series in estimating a potential shortfall.
This amendment clarifies the relevance of the ACCC’s LNG netback price series to considerations under the ADGSM and strengthens the ADGSM’s ability to deliver on its objective of securing domestic gas supply.
But it never happened. Why? Because Morrison lied about reforming gas then buried it in a bureaucratic bog. To wit:
A Senate committee’s lame recommendations to the federal government after a 28-month inquiry into Australia’s oil and gas reserves have triggered calls for the establishment of an oil and gas national benefit czar to maximise the benefits to the public of the exploitation of natural resources.
Crossbench Senator Rex Patrick is also pushing for more transparency on oil and gas reserves still in the ground, an additional royalty on production projects, and a fee on producers as a fallback to cover decommissioning costs for disused offshore platforms.
…Senator Patrick, who was instrumental in tasking the committee to carry out the inquiry, praised the report’s comprehensive examination of the situation, but described it as “another lost opportunity” to develop a resources policy that serves the country’s national interest.
“There’s nothing really that came out to address the issues that we are suffering from,” he told The Australian Financial Review.
…Senator Patrick pointed to the huge discrepancy between the benefits that will flow to Qatar from its LNG development, to those that will flow to the Australian public, putting the figure at $26.6 billion for Qatar and just $800 million for Australia.
He wants the federal government to supplement the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax with a fixed percentage royalty on projects to help guarantee a return to Australia that is not dependent on oil company profits.
And now the local gas price is off and running again because local markets have no protection from rising global prices other than the goodwill (lol) of producers:
Instead of delivering on its contractual commitment to Rex Patrick, Morrison lied so he could expose Australian industry to further hollowing out, even as the local gas goes to China to build its military.
By doing so he also handed scores of billions of dollars in legitimate tax revenue to a pillaging gas cartel.
Finally, all along, he blamed renewables for the price rises and demanded we dig up more ultra-polluting and very expensive gas in NSW to fill the artificial gap he had created himself. He even went so far as to use your taxpayer money for the construction of a white elephant gas-fired power station in Kurri Kurri to justify it.
Why? This:
Everyone wondered whether there was some connection between the government’s direction and its financial indebtedness to the fossil fuel industry. But no one could prove it. Why? Because the Commonwealth doesn’t have real time disclosure of political donations.
Only now, long after the public’s attention has moved on, have those suspicions been confirmed. Thanks to the donations data recently made public on the Australian Electoral Commission site, we know that fossil fuel companies — and the gas industry in particular — were giving generously to both major parties at the time, a whopping $1,329,754 to be precise, with just over half of this from the gas industry.
The Coalition got the lion’s share ($731,534), although Labor collected the not-insignificant sum of $598,220.
If you add to the Coalition’s total for that year the just over $1 million the LNP harvested from fossil fuel via its fundraising entity Cormack, the Coalition’s indebtedness to gas, coal and mining in the 2020-21 period swells to $1,735,048.
Is this proof of corruption? No, but it certainly gives reason for voters to consider whether corruption has taken place. To wit, whether the gas-led recovery policy was designed and intended by the Morrison government to serve the public interest or private ones.
To be honest, I don’t know how Rex Patrick hasn’t reached for his revolver.
And by Rex Patrick, dear reader, I mean you.
