David Davis: ‘Jacinta Allan lied to Victorians, deliberately misleading them as to the government’s intentions on gas choice for households’

Jacinta Allan is under fire after new laws were quietly introduced to the parliament days after the Premier declared “Victorians can keep cooking with gas”.

Premier Jacinta Allan has been accused of lying and misleading the Victorian public over the future of gas in Victoria after new laws were quietly introduced to the parliament designed to phase out gas in Victorian homes in the future.

Gas advocates have slammed the state government over its gas policy after it was revealed that clauses within the Building Legislation Amendment and Other Matters Bill 2024 would allow the regulator to enact bans on new gas connections in new homes and also ban plumbers from installing new or replacing gas connections in existing homes.

Gas advocates say the state is effectively phasing out gas by stealth and was misleading Victorians after appearing to back gas on Monday.

Australian Pipelines and Gas Association chief executive Steve Davies said the Victorian Government’s move to strip away the rights of homeowners and renters because it “might need them later” would not pass the pub test.

Jacinta Allan has been accused of lying and misleading the Victorian public over the future of gas in Victoria. Picture: Diego Fedele

“These draconian measures will not have any impact on improving gas supply for Victorians in the short-term and will instead have the opposite effect through chilling investment in new production,” Mr Davies said.

“Why would any energy company invest in delivering much-needed gas supply for Victoria when the state government is openly trying to destroy the business cases? It is completely counter-productive.

“This Bill creates an economically unviable situation where the state government is essentially telling the 60,000 Victorian businesses on the gas network that they don’t want or need their business anymore.”

The new legislation came after Premier Allan told the media on Monday that “Victorians can keep cooking with gas” and that “gas is part of our energy transition, but the reality is we’re running out of it.”

The Australian Pipelines and Gas Association criticised the government’s ‘draconian measures’.

However, she remained tight-lipped on whether households would be forced to switch other appliances to electric in the future as part of the state’s net-zero 2045 road map.

It’s understood the plan is to phase out the use of gas by slowly removing appliances from the network, such as heaters, that require more gas to run compared to stove cooktops.

Despite keeping silent, her comments on cooktops were welcomed by Victorians and gas industry experts who overwhelmingly oppose gas bans.

Australian Energy Producers Victorian Director Peter Kos said: “A week is a long time in politics. The Victorian Government started this week promising people will still be able to use gas stovetops and is ending the week secretly giving themselves the power to ban reticulated gas connections in future without returning to parliament,” he said.

“It’s an extraordinary turn of events that adds to the confusion and inconsistency surrounding Victoria’s energy policy. Industry has not been consulted about these amendments to building codes for all existing homes.”

Treasurer Tim Pallas said the changes to the legislation “were taken through cabinet processes”.

He said the government had been “very clear” that Victorians would be able to continue to use gas appliances for cooking in households with existing gas connections.

He blamed the Commonwealth for failing to ensure Victorians have enough gas, noting the country was the third biggest exporter of LNG in the world.

“Now that strikes me as being nothing short of perverse,” he said.

“I know industry feel frustrated about that, but if it is a limited resource, we have to make choices, and we also have to take the community on the journey to this.”

Opposition spokesman for Energy, David Davis, slammed the government’s tactic.

“These extraordinary and draconian new powers introduced to Parliament today give them the power through regulation to ban the connection of any gas appliance,” he said.

“This ban will massively curtail consumer choice.

“Jacinta Allan lied on Monday to Victorians, deliberately misleading them as to the government’s intentions on gas choice for households. How can you trust a government that says one thing on Monday and does the opposite on Thursday”.

The Herald Sun has previously revealed polling that the state government would face significant voter backlash if it moved to phase out gas connections in existing homes.

Figures compiled by polling firm Redbridge since February show a steady decline in support for the policy position, with 61 per cent of respondents opposing it.

On Monday, Australian Energy Producers Victorian director Peter Kos had said the proposal to not ­continue to allow gas connections for other appliances was “illogical”.

“There are 2.2 million gas connections in Victoria and over 5.2 million residential gas appliances, and shifting them at great expense onto a fragile, coal-based power grid does not make sense,” he said.

On Wednesday Minister for Energy and Resources Lily D’Ambrosio spruiked the new laws that included facilitating offshore storage projects, but signalled gas was being phased out.

“Our new legislation paves the way for the development of offshore gas storage projects, to help secure gas supply while we cut gas demand by helping Victorian households electrify and save from day one.”