In the early 2000s, the federal Labor government made the disastrous decision to allow the export of liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Queensland without forcing gas companies to first supply Australians.
Gary Grey, the then-Federal Resources Minister under the Gillard/Rudd Labor governments, argued that domestic gas reserve policies create uncertainty and discourage investment, pitting the government against Australia’s ailing manufacturing sector, which was yearning for cheaper gas.
“The Australian Government does not agree that domestic gas reservation would keep gas prices down or put more gas into the market”, Gray said in his opening address to the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association conference in Brisbane on 27 May 2013.
