Canberra cowards continue to destroy Australia’s energy and economic future as the gas and shock rages on:
Dragging electricity along with it:
The renewables versus nuclear smokescreen hasn’t captured a few good men:
Australia Institute principal advisor Matt Ogge said regulator fears of a shortage were “utterly absurd” given up to two-thirds of gas produced on the east coast is shipped overseas.
He accused the federal government of failing to stop fossil fuel giants from “price gouging” Australians by ensuring enough gas is kept onshore, even after a new industry code of conduct.
“The government has completely failed to solve this problem because it caved in immediately to the gas industry,” Ogge said.
“After the damning ACCC report a couple of years ago that showed gas companies were ripping off Australians, they promised to do something … but the measures turned out to be useless.”
Victoria University professor Bruce Mountain said Australia has “plentiful gas”, but that LNG export terminals and lower than expected yields from the plants supplying them have caused issues.
“Export demand dwarfs local demand, add those two together and, relative to supply, we are short,” Mountain said.
The problem is likely to get worse, with gas expected to play a bigger role in base-load electricity generation in coming decades under Labor government plans for the energy transition away from fossil fuels to renewables.
“This situation is going to get worse and worse as coal generation leaves the market,” he said.
Would the LNP do any better? Judge for yourself:
Asked on Friday if a Coalition government would secure more gas for domestic use – especially as customers like Japan have lately been re-exporting surpluses – O’Brien said: “We will have more to say about our energy policy in due course.”
“What we need to do is we need to make sure we clear the decks when it comes to unnecessary red tape,” he said. “An increase in supply means not only do we keep the lights on but we get prices down.”
There is barely a patriot in the “Australian” Parliament.
