Tom Minear: Bickering over energy crisis won’t get us anywhere

State and federal leaders this week spently plenty of time dodging responsibility for the energy crisis, but sadly for many Aussies a resoultion to the issue hasn’t seemed to emerge.

Daniel Andrews has correctly diagnosed key factors in the energy crisis.

Last week, the Premier vented that it “makes no sense” Australians are competing with other countries for gas “that comes out of our ground”, as he pushed for a domestic reservation.

This week, he blasted the lack of a “coherent, clear energy policy out of Canberra for a long, long time”.

Both fair points. Where Andrews’s critique falls down, however, is his hypocritical failure to reflect on his own missteps.

After coming to power in 2014, he extended the ban on onshore gas exploration and development implemented by the Coalition. No state uses as much gas as Victoria, and yet Labor was willing to ignore what was under our feet until Andrews announced an end to the moratorium just as the pandemic hit.

Daniel Andrews made some fair points about the nation's current energy crisis. Picture: Daniel Pockett

Gas may not be a clean energy source, but it is cleaner than the coal Victoria relies on to keep the lights on. Andrews’s unwillingness to develop our untapped reserves — which could meet demand for almost four years — robbed the state of the on-demand power needed in crises.

It’s also worth remembering the role of Andrews and other state leaders in the debate over Malcolm Turnbull’s failed national energy guarantee, which could have prevented the chaos now unfolding.

While Turnbull was unable to negotiate it through his party room, the suspicion at the time was some states also drove a hard bargain for partly political purposes. The issue cost the PM his job.

Andrews is not the only one dodging responsibility. Turnbull is pushing for gas export limits while ignoring the fact that his trigger cannot do the job.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton, who was in cabinet for nine years, somehow seems to think Energy Minister Chris Bowen has made the situation worse in the fortnight since he was sworn in.

If only all this hot air could power the country.

Originally published as Tom Minear: Bickering over energy crisis won’t get us anywhere