Colin Barnett calls for cross-country gas pipeline

Former WA premier Colin Barnett has renewed his call for a multibillion-dollar transcontinental gas pipeline.

Former WA premier Colin Barnett. Picture: Colin Murty

Former Western Australia premier Colin Barnett has renewed his call for a multibillion-dollar transcontinental gas pipeline, touting it as a way for the Albanese government to address the east coast energy crisis.

Mr Barnett, who led WA from 2008 to 2017, said the surge in ­energy prices on the east coast in a country with abundant coal, gas, uranium and renewable resources was “a classic case of public policy failure”.

Wholesale gas prices on the east coast have doubled over the past year and electricity retail prices have been predicted to rise by 35 per cent next year.

The cross-country gas pipeline could enable the Albanese government to address the east coast’s energy issues, and an opportunity for gas producers to become part of the solution and reduce the risk of being hit with punitive policy measures, he said.

“It would not solve all the problems, but it would make a big difference for the better,” he said.

“All that is needed is a bold and clear policy position from government and goodwill on all sides.”

Mr Barnett first began calling for the pipeline four years ago, with the Morrison government ultimately funding a $5m desktop study into the proposal in 2019. That study was inconclusive, finding the plan was technically feasible, but faced major commercial and market risks. A 2500km pipeline from WA to the existing pipeline infrastructure in South Australia’s Cooper Basin is estimated to cost about $6bn.

WA’s experience had shown the project could be fully funded by the private sector if the government put in place the right policy settings, he said.

Gas exporters could feed in gas from discovered fields that were too small to support LNG exports, putting them “on the right side of the argument”.

The pipeline’s estimated cost is a fraction of the $25bn the Albanese government has flagged will be spent on new and upgraded transmission lines to improve the way renewable energy infrastructure accesses the electricity grid.

Mr Barnett said that while that investment was necessary to achieve a high reliance on renewables, negotiating powerlines across farmland and environmentally sensitive areas would be a long and slow process. The pipeline could take about three years and deliver gas to the east at about $8 a gigajoule or less than half the current wholesale price, he said.

WA has been insulated by its physical separation from the east and its domestic gas reservation policy, which requires 15 per cent of gas from export projects to be set aside for local consumption.

That policy was put in place by the Labor government of Alan Carpenter in 2006.