Gas decisions make sense

The Australian Institute for Progress has welcomed today's decisions by the Queensland and Commonwealth Governments which will expand Australian gas production.

Executive Director Graham Young said that the decision by the Queensland government to open up 9 new fields in the Cooper/Eromanga and Bowen/Surat Basins, and by the Commonwealth to approve a 40 year extension of Woodside's North-West Shelf project, were signs reality is winning out.

"Gas currently underwrites out electricity sector, and will continue to, even after NetZero is achieved. So more gas will translate into lower electricity prices over time.

"But it is important to understand that gas is essential as well to producing bricks, glass, plastics, fertiliser, explosives, pharmaceuticals and many other products. It is not only burned, but it is just as often turned into other products which are universally used in a modern society.

"The truth is that without gas the living standards of billions would plummet, and some billions would actually die.

"We also have to understand that mineral exports, including gas, also underwrite Australian's standard of living. It was mineral royalties, not restraint, that gave Jim Chalmers his fleeting budget surpluses, and which fund the generous government services Australians receive, as well as employing 325,000 people, or 2.5% of the workforce, who are amongst the most productive."

Mr Young said that these approvals are not a panacea, and the benefits will not necessarily start immediately and will actually play out over many years.

"While the industry is very efficient reserves still need to be found and proved; they have to be near to infrastructure; they need to be drilled, and in the case of coal-seam gas, dewatered; and then connected to a pipeline.

"This process will take years. Which is why political stability and predictability are an essential component as well.

"We therefore call on all sides of politics to back these projects, and undertake not to saddle them with unpredictable imposts in the name of conservation, price controls, or some other factor which are irrelevant or distort the market."

For further information contact Graham Young on 0411 104 801 or graham.young@aip.asn.au