Time to get things done on gas

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King has offered a glimmer of hope in her understanding of the fragility of community support for the Albanese government’s net-zero transition and the urgent need for gas to back it up. Ms King belatedly recognises that support for Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen’s renewables-only approach to energy will evaporate if voters lose their lifestyles. The reality is that community lifestyles already have taken a hit thanks to rising energy prices that can be traced at least in part to the intermittent nature of renewable energy in an electricity grid that has been stretched to capacity. There is further evidence of the cost of the transition in Anthony Albanese’s planned announcement for a $2bn subsidy to energy-hungry aluminium smelters to use renewable power.

Ms King was the voice of sanity for Labor in May 2024 when she announced the ALP’s Future Gas Strategy, which she said was “based on facts and data, not ideology or wishful thinking”. The announcement came amid heightened concerns by industry about rising sovereign risk for projects and alarm about energy security in our export markets. Ms King said the objectives of the gas strategy were to support decarbonisation of the Australian economy, safeguard energy security and affordability, entrench Australia’s reputation as an attractive trade and investment destination, and to help our trade partners on their own paths to net zero. To demonstrate how significant the issue was internationally, the Future Gas Strategy was translated and published by government in Chinese (simplified and traditional), Japanese and Korean. Ms King said the Future Gas Strategy was well supported in cabinet and the government. “It might be controversial for others but not for the government,” she said. This was despite lukewarm public comments by the Prime Minister and ALP president Wayne Swan when it was announced. As Labor’s only member of cabinet from Western Australia, Ms King understands the gas industry better than most. And she has shown a good understanding of why Australian gas production matters to the rest of the world.

Having talked the talk, Ms King and Labor must deliver. The government must stare down noisy opposition from academic and protest groups to its gas ambitions and get things done. Getting results for the long-delayed Narrabri project in NSW and removing the Victorian government’s chokehold on onshore gas exploration and production would be a good start.