The Albanese government has pushed out the deadline to extend the life of the North West Shelf gas project to well beyond the West Australian election and potentially beyond a federal poll, frustrating Woodside Energy’s six-year efforts to secure the future of the massive gas development.

Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek on Tuesday said her department needed more time to assess the application, which would permit five more decades of gas operations and pave the way for a $30 billion development that proposes to tap gas from three new fields 900 kilometres away.