Gas pipeline owners can breathe a sigh of relief. Threats to introduce an electricity network-style regulatory regime – going to the regulator to approve a cost of capital and acceptable return on new investment – are diminished.

The regulator, the Australian Energy Regulator, let the first cab off the rank go. It was APA Group’s South West Queensland Pipeline, which carries gas from where it is extracted and plentiful (up north) to where it is most needed and scarce (down south), and was chosen because of its importance to the east coast gas market and Australia’s energy transition.