Gas wars erupt as Coalition pledges to unleash ‘bucketloads’ of fuel

A fight over the future of Australia’s gas industry is intensifying ahead of the federal election, as the Coalition promises to fast-track drilling permits to unleash “bucketloads” of new gas, and Labor hits out at “cowboy” policies that threaten to override national environmental laws.

The Peter Dutton-led opposition is targeting a dramatic increase to the supply of natural gas if it wins the coming election, promising to halve the approval times for companies seeking to develop new gas projects, and extend the life of Woodside Energy’s huge North West Shelf gas operations in Western Australia by another 50 years.

A Bass Strait oil rig drilling platform off the Victorian coast.Credit: James Davies

While Australia exports liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, officials are sounding the alarm that consumers in the most populous south-eastern states are heading for a gas shortage in as little as three years unless more supplies are urgently made available.

The vast Gippsland Basin gas fields in the Bass Strait, which have kept gas-reliant homes and businesses on the eastern seaboard well supplied for decades, are rapidly drying out, with scant new projects to replace them.

Opposition resources spokeswoman Susan McDonald is developing a plan to spur greater exploration and development of the fossil fuel, which would give companies access to accelerated approvals in exchange for commitments to set aside a portion of their projects’ production for local buyers only.

If it wins this year’s election, the Coalition would also greenlight Woodside Energy’s plan to extend its 40-year-old North West Shelf project to 2070, she said. Perth-based Woodside gained clearance from the WA government in December after a six-year wait, but the Albanese government has now pushed back the timeline for a federal environment assessment as it considers the risk that releasing additional industrial emissions may pose to 50,000-year-old Indigenous rock art in the region.

McDonald’s pledge to approve the North West Shelf’s extension drew scathing criticism from federal Resources Minister Madeleine King, who accused the Coalition of bypassing due process under national environmental law.

“They [the Coalition] are bloody cowboys, and it endangers governmental decisions by talking like this,” said King.

“Objectively, the North West Shelf has been very important to WA, but the decision around this has to be decided on what is presented and what is obliged to be presented to the minister.”

King last year launched the government’s “future gas strategy”, which supports the expansion of the gas industry in Australia, and recognises that gas would play a key role in the shift to net zero emissions because it releases fewer emissions than coal but could still be relied upon to back up weather-reliant renewables.

“That’s the thing about slogans and populism – it gets no one a single petajoule more.”

Federal Resources Minister Madeleine King

She said the Coalition’s proposal to boost gas supplies in Victoria by introducing a requirement to reserve some gas for the domestic market would have little impact – Victoria already requires gas producers to offer their gas to the domestic market on reasonable terms before they could sell to exporters. It was also unclear how the Coalition planned to speed up approvals, she said.

“They say they want to supercharge supply in Victoria with not a single explanation of how they want to do it,” she said.

“That’s the thing about slogans and populism – it gets no one a single petajoule more.”

South-eastern Australia’s looming shortage of gas, a major source of carbon dioxide and methane emissions, presents a challenge for governments, which are having to balance their efforts to combat climate change with the need to shore up traditional energy supplies for consumers.

Australian Energy Producers, the industry group representing oil and gas companies, said it welcomed the Coalition’s plan to speed up approvals and its commitment that its reservation requirement would not retrospectively affect LNG export contracts.

“We look forward to seeing further detail of the Coalition’s gas policy,” Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch said.

The Coalition’s pledge to expand the gas industry would lock in “decades more climate pollution” and undermine critical environmental protections, warned Gavan McFadzean, campaign manager at the Australian Conservation Foundation.

“When politicians talk about ‘faster approvals’ it usually means cutting corners on protecting the environment,” he said.

“Removing environmental protection is not a pathway to cheaper energy, it’s a licence for gas companies to get away with poor practices that harm nature and climate – and can hurt workers and local communities.”

So far, the Coalition has promised to speed up timelines by defunding the Environmental Defenders Office – a non-profit legal centre that regularly supports challenges against fossil fuel project approvals – if it wins the election. It has not committed to reforming Commonwealth environmental protection legislation, the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act.

Tony Wood, energy program director at the Grattan Institute, said the winner of the election would need to ensure that the domestic market did not run out of gas. However, he doubted whether the Coalition’s proposal would succeed in unlocking greater supplies of domestic gas in Victoria, given geological surveys indicated there was little gas left in the state to make “much of a difference”.

He also queried how the Coalition planned to “open the floodgates” to bring on new supplies without environmental reform.

“If they are not going to change the EPBC Act, then what floodgates are they going to open?” Wood said.

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