This is how backward everything about the east coast gas cartel is:
A $US10 billion ($14.86 billion) LNG project in Papua New Guinea will have a transformative effect on the impoverished Pacific nation, as well as supply Asia’s growing demand for energy, the developers say.
TotalEnergies, Santos and ExxonMobil this week moved to accelerate the development of the project that, should it go ahead, would become PNG’s second LNG project.
…The PNG government will take a 22.5 per cent stake in Papua LNG, higher than the 19.6 per cent held in the country’s sole other development, PNG LNG. Under the terms of the gas agreement with the government, Papua LNG would also make 5 per cent of its gas available for the domestic market, helping ensure energy security.
So, according to the treasonous AFR and its pet gas cartel, PNG is right to secure gas for themselves but Australia’s east coast is not?
A nation in which cannibalism was still practiced a few decades ago recognises that gas reservation and appropriate taxation for China-beholden foreign corporations make sense.
That’s how primitive Australia’s east coast gas regulatory regime is.
And in case you are wondering, all three firms investing in PNG gas reservation, shared equity and appropriate tax levels – TotalEnergies, Santos, and ExxonMobil – are active members of Australia’s atavistic east coast gas cartel.
The failure of the Albanese Government to recognise this in time has delivered a preposterous energy shock:
In October, the federal budget forecast a 20 per cent rise in electricity costs in 2022-23 and a 30 per cent rise in electricity costs in 2023-24, which was later revised up to 36 per cent.
But Bowen will say in the speech that, according to a new estimate from Treasury, the market intervention has meant that “electricity prices nationally would increase 13 percentage points less in 2023-24 than if we hadn’t taken action”.
Households and small businesses are therefore expected to see electricity prices rise by an average of about 23 per cent nationally.
The much improved ADGSM is almost in place so as long as the government wielding it is not an idiot we should not suffer this problem again.
Which is a big “if”.
