Gas is not only a lower-carbon energy transition fuel that is critical to helping cool the world and reach net zero by 2050. Australia’s liquefied natural gas exports are also a globally important strategic asset in geopolitically unstable times.

That is underlined by Japanese energy companies increasing their purchases of Australian LNG since 2021 and then on-selling surplus supply amid falling domestic demand to South-East Asian customers. What this shows is that Japan’s on-selling should not fuel the misguided climate activism that asserts that no new gas projects are needed in Australia, nor the misguided resource nationalism that seeks to divert LNG exports to the domestic market.