Going into to today’s crisis meeting with the gas cartel, Do-nothing Malcolm has just said:
It is not acceptable for Australia shortly to become the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, to not have enough gas for its own families and its own businesss.
The Commonwealth government has considerable power with respect to any exports of any items, including gas, of course. But what I’m seeking to do is to ensure we have action from the gas companies.
I can say that the gas companies, I have no doubt, are very well aware that they operate with the benefit of a social licence from the Australian people and they cannot expect to maintain that, if while billions of dollars of gas are being exported, Australians are left short.
We’re seeking action today at the meeting. We’re determined to resolve this gas crisis. It’s been created by policies of state governments that have locked up gas resources over the years, despite many warnings but the time has come for action and for a solution.
The worst example is Victoria. In Victoria, where there is a huge amount of gas and indeed, there is still a very large offshore gas resource in Bass Strait, but there is also an enormous amount of gas onshore that can be accessed by conventional means without fracking.
So at the same time as the Victorian Labor government is allowing the Hazelwood power station to close down, creating a very big reduction in the state’s electricity generating capacity, it is preventing the development of the gas resources within that state which, of course, are needed to provide an alternative source of power.
That’s a pretty poor start, frankly. Gone is the rhetoric on national security replaced all too quickly with the “social licence” argument from yesterday’s Rod Sims speech. On top of that, if you’re going to pressure someone to act then you don’t give them an immediate excuse to ally with you in not acting by blaming someone else.
This has an all-too-familiar stink about it already as Do-nothing Malcolm brain farts his way into what now looks like the government meeting CEO’s to plan an assault on state rights.
