Latest news with #NorthWestShelfExtension
The Advertiser
29-05-2025
- Business
- The Advertiser
Govt and industry say we need more gas supply. That's nonsense
The first act of a re-elected Albanese government has been to betray future generations. Before the final votes are counted, before ministers have even had time to get their feet under their desks, the government has approved one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in our history: the North West Shelf Extension. The North West Shelf isn't just another gas project. It's the expansion of a decades-old gas hub off the Pilbara coast in WA, near one of the world's oldest cultural sites, Murujuga. It threatens endangered marine life at Scott Reef. It will pump 4.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere - ten times Australia's annual domestic emissions. And nearly all of the gas will be shipped overseas. All this, approved under broken environmental laws a government-appointed review found unfit for purpose back in 2020. Laws Labor promised to fix but hasn't yet, after the PM intervened to stop an agreement that was reached with the Greens and crossbench late last year. Right now, communities on the mid north coast of NSW are assessing the damage from yet another flood - the second in four years that authorities are calling a once-in-500-year event. The climate crisis is not theoretical. It's here, it's now, and it's devastating our communities. This project is the textbook example of everything wrong with Australia's gas policy. Its approval comes off the back of a dangerous myth that more gas means cheaper prices for Australians. Over the past decade, east coast gas production has doubled. Prices have tripled. Domestic demand is falling, yet households and manufacturers are paying through the nose because more than three quarters of our gas is exported or used in export processing. Earlier this week households were told to brace for power bill hikes of up to 10 per cent - the cost of gas, coupled with ageing coal major factors as to why. Our approach is in stark contrast to other resource-rich nations. Norway, also a substantial gas exporter, now has a sovereign wealth fund worth $2.8 trillion. Meanwhile, we have nearly $1 trillion of debt. The government's spin about needing to support the energy security of our partners has also been shot down with reports showing Japan made over $1 billion last year by re-exporting our gas. The government and the gas industry say we need more supply. That's nonsense. What we need is a government willing to prioritise domestic use and put a fair price on exports. That means fixing the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, strengthening export controls, and legislating a duty of care to protect young Australians from climate harm. Last term, I introduced a bill to enshrine that duty of care in law. It had support from across the political spectrum and 402 of 403 public submissions. But Labor and the Coalition blocked it. Because deep down, they knew it would stop projects like this one. The Albanese government has taken some steps in the right direction. It legislated emissions targets, invested in renewables, and began backing household electrification. But it also rebranded Scott Morrison's "gas-led recovery" as the "Future Gas Strategy", a document that flies in the face of advice from the IPCC, the IEA, and our own Office of National Intelligence. While I appreciate the confidential briefing the government gave to community-backed independents on this report, I will continue to push for its public release. Australians deserve to know its contents, especially in the context of their government continuing to approve projects like this one. Australians didn't vote for more gas exports. They voted for climate action, cost-of-living relief, and a future our kids can look forward to. Approving the North West Shelf Extension would deliver the opposite. MORE OPINION: It locks in decades of climate damage, deepens our energy crisis, and pours fuel on the fires of inequality. All so multinational gas giants can make a buck. That's not a strategy, it's a sell-out. It doesn't have to be this way. With its new mandate, the government had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right. To reject this project. To fix our tax and environmental laws. To prioritise Australian families and businesses over fossil fuel profits. And to show the leadership this moment demands. Next week, the Cabinet is sitting in Perth. Maybe the PM would consider holding Cabinet in Taree instead so ministers can see first hand what happens to communities when projects like the North West Shelf Extension get approved. The first act of a re-elected Albanese government has been to betray future generations. Before the final votes are counted, before ministers have even had time to get their feet under their desks, the government has approved one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in our history: the North West Shelf Extension. The North West Shelf isn't just another gas project. It's the expansion of a decades-old gas hub off the Pilbara coast in WA, near one of the world's oldest cultural sites, Murujuga. It threatens endangered marine life at Scott Reef. It will pump 4.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere - ten times Australia's annual domestic emissions. And nearly all of the gas will be shipped overseas. All this, approved under broken environmental laws a government-appointed review found unfit for purpose back in 2020. Laws Labor promised to fix but hasn't yet, after the PM intervened to stop an agreement that was reached with the Greens and crossbench late last year. Right now, communities on the mid north coast of NSW are assessing the damage from yet another flood - the second in four years that authorities are calling a once-in-500-year event. The climate crisis is not theoretical. It's here, it's now, and it's devastating our communities. This project is the textbook example of everything wrong with Australia's gas policy. Its approval comes off the back of a dangerous myth that more gas means cheaper prices for Australians. Over the past decade, east coast gas production has doubled. Prices have tripled. Domestic demand is falling, yet households and manufacturers are paying through the nose because more than three quarters of our gas is exported or used in export processing. Earlier this week households were told to brace for power bill hikes of up to 10 per cent - the cost of gas, coupled with ageing coal major factors as to why. Our approach is in stark contrast to other resource-rich nations. Norway, also a substantial gas exporter, now has a sovereign wealth fund worth $2.8 trillion. Meanwhile, we have nearly $1 trillion of debt. The government's spin about needing to support the energy security of our partners has also been shot down with reports showing Japan made over $1 billion last year by re-exporting our gas. The government and the gas industry say we need more supply. That's nonsense. What we need is a government willing to prioritise domestic use and put a fair price on exports. That means fixing the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, strengthening export controls, and legislating a duty of care to protect young Australians from climate harm. Last term, I introduced a bill to enshrine that duty of care in law. It had support from across the political spectrum and 402 of 403 public submissions. But Labor and the Coalition blocked it. Because deep down, they knew it would stop projects like this one. The Albanese government has taken some steps in the right direction. It legislated emissions targets, invested in renewables, and began backing household electrification. But it also rebranded Scott Morrison's "gas-led recovery" as the "Future Gas Strategy", a document that flies in the face of advice from the IPCC, the IEA, and our own Office of National Intelligence. While I appreciate the confidential briefing the government gave to community-backed independents on this report, I will continue to push for its public release. Australians deserve to know its contents, especially in the context of their government continuing to approve projects like this one. Australians didn't vote for more gas exports. They voted for climate action, cost-of-living relief, and a future our kids can look forward to. Approving the North West Shelf Extension would deliver the opposite. MORE OPINION: It locks in decades of climate damage, deepens our energy crisis, and pours fuel on the fires of inequality. All so multinational gas giants can make a buck. That's not a strategy, it's a sell-out. It doesn't have to be this way. With its new mandate, the government had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right. To reject this project. To fix our tax and environmental laws. To prioritise Australian families and businesses over fossil fuel profits. And to show the leadership this moment demands. Next week, the Cabinet is sitting in Perth. Maybe the PM would consider holding Cabinet in Taree instead so ministers can see first hand what happens to communities when projects like the North West Shelf Extension get approved. The first act of a re-elected Albanese government has been to betray future generations. Before the final votes are counted, before ministers have even had time to get their feet under their desks, the government has approved one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in our history: the North West Shelf Extension. The North West Shelf isn't just another gas project. It's the expansion of a decades-old gas hub off the Pilbara coast in WA, near one of the world's oldest cultural sites, Murujuga. It threatens endangered marine life at Scott Reef. It will pump 4.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere - ten times Australia's annual domestic emissions. And nearly all of the gas will be shipped overseas. All this, approved under broken environmental laws a government-appointed review found unfit for purpose back in 2020. Laws Labor promised to fix but hasn't yet, after the PM intervened to stop an agreement that was reached with the Greens and crossbench late last year. Right now, communities on the mid north coast of NSW are assessing the damage from yet another flood - the second in four years that authorities are calling a once-in-500-year event. The climate crisis is not theoretical. It's here, it's now, and it's devastating our communities. This project is the textbook example of everything wrong with Australia's gas policy. Its approval comes off the back of a dangerous myth that more gas means cheaper prices for Australians. Over the past decade, east coast gas production has doubled. Prices have tripled. Domestic demand is falling, yet households and manufacturers are paying through the nose because more than three quarters of our gas is exported or used in export processing. Earlier this week households were told to brace for power bill hikes of up to 10 per cent - the cost of gas, coupled with ageing coal major factors as to why. Our approach is in stark contrast to other resource-rich nations. Norway, also a substantial gas exporter, now has a sovereign wealth fund worth $2.8 trillion. Meanwhile, we have nearly $1 trillion of debt. The government's spin about needing to support the energy security of our partners has also been shot down with reports showing Japan made over $1 billion last year by re-exporting our gas. The government and the gas industry say we need more supply. That's nonsense. What we need is a government willing to prioritise domestic use and put a fair price on exports. That means fixing the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, strengthening export controls, and legislating a duty of care to protect young Australians from climate harm. Last term, I introduced a bill to enshrine that duty of care in law. It had support from across the political spectrum and 402 of 403 public submissions. But Labor and the Coalition blocked it. Because deep down, they knew it would stop projects like this one. The Albanese government has taken some steps in the right direction. It legislated emissions targets, invested in renewables, and began backing household electrification. But it also rebranded Scott Morrison's "gas-led recovery" as the "Future Gas Strategy", a document that flies in the face of advice from the IPCC, the IEA, and our own Office of National Intelligence. While I appreciate the confidential briefing the government gave to community-backed independents on this report, I will continue to push for its public release. Australians deserve to know its contents, especially in the context of their government continuing to approve projects like this one. Australians didn't vote for more gas exports. They voted for climate action, cost-of-living relief, and a future our kids can look forward to. Approving the North West Shelf Extension would deliver the opposite. MORE OPINION: It locks in decades of climate damage, deepens our energy crisis, and pours fuel on the fires of inequality. All so multinational gas giants can make a buck. That's not a strategy, it's a sell-out. It doesn't have to be this way. With its new mandate, the government had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right. To reject this project. To fix our tax and environmental laws. To prioritise Australian families and businesses over fossil fuel profits. And to show the leadership this moment demands. Next week, the Cabinet is sitting in Perth. Maybe the PM would consider holding Cabinet in Taree instead so ministers can see first hand what happens to communities when projects like the North West Shelf Extension get approved. The first act of a re-elected Albanese government has been to betray future generations. Before the final votes are counted, before ministers have even had time to get their feet under their desks, the government has approved one of the biggest fossil fuel projects in our history: the North West Shelf Extension. The North West Shelf isn't just another gas project. It's the expansion of a decades-old gas hub off the Pilbara coast in WA, near one of the world's oldest cultural sites, Murujuga. It threatens endangered marine life at Scott Reef. It will pump 4.4 billion tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions into the atmosphere - ten times Australia's annual domestic emissions. And nearly all of the gas will be shipped overseas. All this, approved under broken environmental laws a government-appointed review found unfit for purpose back in 2020. Laws Labor promised to fix but hasn't yet, after the PM intervened to stop an agreement that was reached with the Greens and crossbench late last year. Right now, communities on the mid north coast of NSW are assessing the damage from yet another flood - the second in four years that authorities are calling a once-in-500-year event. The climate crisis is not theoretical. It's here, it's now, and it's devastating our communities. This project is the textbook example of everything wrong with Australia's gas policy. Its approval comes off the back of a dangerous myth that more gas means cheaper prices for Australians. Over the past decade, east coast gas production has doubled. Prices have tripled. Domestic demand is falling, yet households and manufacturers are paying through the nose because more than three quarters of our gas is exported or used in export processing. Earlier this week households were told to brace for power bill hikes of up to 10 per cent - the cost of gas, coupled with ageing coal major factors as to why. Our approach is in stark contrast to other resource-rich nations. Norway, also a substantial gas exporter, now has a sovereign wealth fund worth $2.8 trillion. Meanwhile, we have nearly $1 trillion of debt. The government's spin about needing to support the energy security of our partners has also been shot down with reports showing Japan made over $1 billion last year by re-exporting our gas. The government and the gas industry say we need more supply. That's nonsense. What we need is a government willing to prioritise domestic use and put a fair price on exports. That means fixing the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, strengthening export controls, and legislating a duty of care to protect young Australians from climate harm. Last term, I introduced a bill to enshrine that duty of care in law. It had support from across the political spectrum and 402 of 403 public submissions. But Labor and the Coalition blocked it. Because deep down, they knew it would stop projects like this one. The Albanese government has taken some steps in the right direction. It legislated emissions targets, invested in renewables, and began backing household electrification. But it also rebranded Scott Morrison's "gas-led recovery" as the "Future Gas Strategy", a document that flies in the face of advice from the IPCC, the IEA, and our own Office of National Intelligence. While I appreciate the confidential briefing the government gave to community-backed independents on this report, I will continue to push for its public release. Australians deserve to know its contents, especially in the context of their government continuing to approve projects like this one. Australians didn't vote for more gas exports. They voted for climate action, cost-of-living relief, and a future our kids can look forward to. Approving the North West Shelf Extension would deliver the opposite. MORE OPINION: It locks in decades of climate damage, deepens our energy crisis, and pours fuel on the fires of inequality. All so multinational gas giants can make a buck. That's not a strategy, it's a sell-out. It doesn't have to be this way. With its new mandate, the government had a once-in-a-generation opportunity to get this right. To reject this project. To fix our tax and environmental laws. To prioritise Australian families and businesses over fossil fuel profits. And to show the leadership this moment demands. Next week, the Cabinet is sitting in Perth. Maybe the PM would consider holding Cabinet in Taree instead so ministers can see first hand what happens to communities when projects like the North West Shelf Extension get approved.
Epoch Times
28-05-2025
- Business
- Epoch Times
Woodside North West Shelf Gas Project Given Green Light Until 2070
Global energy company Woodside has finally received the green light for its proposed extension to operate the North West Shelf gas processing plant in Western Australia beyond 2030. The 50-year extension of the Karratha project, approved by Environment Minister Murray Watt on May 28, will be subject to strict conditions concerning air emission levels but will effectively grant permission for the project to run from 2030 to 2070. 'Following the consideration of rigorous scientific and other advice including submissions from a wide cross-section of the community, I have today made a proposed decision to approve this development, subject to strict conditions, particularly relating to the impact of air emissions levels from the operation of an expanded onshore Karratha gas plant,' Senator Watt said in a statement. The current North West Shelf project on the Burrup Peninsula is one of Australia's biggest resource development enterprises and is one of the world's biggest liquified natural gas projects. Woodside's proposal has been under assessment for six years, beleaguered by concerns from environmentalists and Indigenous parties concerned over the potential impact on Aboriginal rock art, some of which is dated at around 50,000 years old. Indigenous groups launched legal action against the proposed energy project, while environmental groups, including Greenpeace and the Conservation Council of Western Australia, argue the project extension could generate around six billion tonnes of greenhouse gases annually. Related Stories 3/19/2025 5/7/2025 The photo shows North Rankin Complex of the North West Shelf Project owned by Woodside Energy in Western Australia on Feb. 21, 2023. Courtesy of Woodside Energy In the wake of the approval, New South Wales Greens Senator David Shoebridge accused the oil and gas industries of 'boiling the world.' Former Opposition Leader Peter Dutton had previously pledged to approve the extension within 30 days if elected to government, while Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, in the lead-up to the federal election, said environmental considerations would be paramount. Dutton had accused the previous federal cabinet of delaying decisions on the expansion. 'Timely approval of the North West Shelf Extension is critical to ensure this nationally significant asset continues to provide a reliable energy supply to Western Australian businesses and homes,' a Woodside spokesperson said in a statement. The expansion has had ongoing support from Western Australian Premier Roger Cook, who earlier this year urged the Albanese government to get moving on the approval. 'Gas is critical to meeting the energy needs of Western Australia, which has both the strongest economy in the nation and the fastest growing population in the nation,' Cook told media in March. 'Gas is crucial to supporting renewables in our clean energy transition, which includes exiting coal ahead of any other Australian state.'
