Your nation is being destroyed by the gas cartel:
Australia’s use of gas will be an election flashpoint as the Coalition pledges to streamline project approvals in a quid-pro-quo with companies to keep more of the fossil fuel for local use.
The pledge from resources spokeswoman Susan McDonald built on a speech from Dutton on Monday in which he claimed nuclear energy presented the “only chance to reach net zero by 2050”.
…McDonald said a Coalition government would use its role in the approval of offshore developments to make sure a proportion of gas was kept for the domestic market. About 75 per cent of Australia’s gas is exported.
In one of the most significant energy pronouncements since the opposition revealed its nuclear plans in June, McDonald said the approach would be an effective “quid-pro-quo” whereby the Coalition would try to dramatically boost gas supply in exchange for commitments to keep more onshore.
For onshore projects controlled by the states, it would use incentives and other tools to pressure companies to keep gas in the market in the hope of lowering prices and using gas as a transition fuel to fill the energy gap as nuclear plants were built over the next two decades.
However, the opposition will stop short of a retrospective, legislated gas reserve, which could scare investors and anger overseas buyers such as Japan, while alienating the fossil fuel firms who are currently attacking Labor’s mining agenda.
“With buckling knees, Labor and the Greens swoon at the mention of gas in our energy mix,” McDonald said in speech last week.
The only swooning going on here is the LNP on its knees sucking gas cartel pipe.
Nothing proposed here does anything to boost east coast gas volumes or lower prices.
The problem is not a shortage of gas. It is the presence of an export cartel that controls the reserves.
Without competition, how are prices going to fall? The cartel will just manage resource portfolios and export more to ensure prices stay high.
As for offshore approvals, they’re in WA, not the east coast. There is no leverage there.
Moreover, using more gas if you’re not going to address the cartel will radically boost prices.
Dutton’s nuclear policy is insane.
His gas policy is corrupt.
