Let’s stop jeopardising our energy security

How many inquiries and reviews into the gas sector do we need before acknowledging a simple truth? Restricting supply directly impacts both reliability and cost.

Governments at all levels have consistently discouraged investment in gas through prolonged approval processes and burdensome regulations. A prime example is Santos’s Narrabri project, which after more than eight years is still waiting on final approvals. Regulatory complexity has all but shut out smaller players – just look at Queensland, where the number of major producers now far exceeds that of mid-tier or small gas-producing companies. On top of this, continuous litigation by activist groups has become a tactic to delay and disrupt progress.

There must be safeguards to prevent frivolous or ideologically driven legal challenges from stalling responsible development. It’s time to move past endless reviews and political posturing. We need to tackle the core structural issues that are holding back domestic gas supply and damaging Australia’s energy security.

Don McMillan, Paddington, Qld

Ivory towers

Thank you, Bill Shorten, for highlighting the disconnect between the universities’ view of themselves and the reality for many students (“Millennials and Gen Z need more than ivory towers”, 12/6). Shorten is spot-on in his description of “slick and soulless corporations” that treat students as revenue. If they are going to operate like corporations, can I suggest they try putting the customer first. My son studied for a year at one university that then made the course online, without caring about the effect on its teenage customers. So much for the “student experience”. He switched to another and completed his degree during Covid.

Last December we lodged a formal complaint about the university’s failure to offer a graduation ceremony but the complaints service seems to be overwhelmed, and it’s been six months of silence. If a phone company or airline behaved like this, they would be called to account. University was a transforming learning experience for my generation. The universities’ indifference to today’s youth will come back to bite them when they need public support – no matter how slick their marketing is.

Jan McCallum, Fairfield, Vic

Hope for Coalition

In her excellent article Peta Credlin writes that the Liberal Party took a Labor-lite approach to its campaign because it saw no votes in “calling time on unsustainable spending” (“ALP’s ‘plan’ for second term is just managed decline,” 12/6). Unfortunately, it could be true that Australians think the nation is doing well under this Labor government, despite all of the evidence to the contrary. However, as the state of decline progresses, it is arguable that Australians will eventually see the light.

If the Coalition focuses more clearly on the parlous state of our defences, our increasingly fragile relationship with our major ally, our declining standard of living, our lack of energy security and our low productivity rate in its next campaign, it has an excellent chance of winning. I also suggest it explains exactly why we should have nuclear power in its next campaign, taking Sir Keir Starmer’s new nuclear policy as an example.

Lisa Sanderson, Auchenflower, Qld

NDIS ‘a runaway horse’

The NDIS has provided a handsome income for those who have been found ripping off a system originally conceived with the best intentions. Both cities and country towns are vulnerable to deceptive practices where disability services have become a lucrative industry. They have expanded rapidly, often taking on new clients, beyond their capacity or staffing. Caring for and supporting people with complex disabilities is tough work and the support workers who are on the ground should earn good money for the work they do. But there seems to be plenty of consultants, experts and various others who are ready to charge hundreds of dollars an hour for their opinions. The scheme was set up by a previous Labor government and it is the re-elected Labor government that must take responsibility for restructuring the NDIS, which has become a runaway horse, costing billions and in immediate need of rehabilitation and revision.

Stephanie Summers, Turramurra, NSW

Theology nerds

On behalf of all the medieval theology nerds in Australia, I’d like to thank Greg Sheridan for mentioning Duns Scotus in his Q+A article (“Why I will miss Q+A: a conservative’s lament”, 12/6). Scotus had already been wiped from history’s page when I wrote about his influence on the poetry of Gerard Manley Hopkins 45 years ago at the University of Leeds. If you had told me then that I would one day see him resurrected on page 2 of Australia’s leading daily I would have asked you what you were smoking.

Simon Collins, Kirribilli, NSW