Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Trade) | Hansard source

by leave—On behalf of the member for Gippsland, I move:

That this House:

(1) acknowledges that:

(a) natural gas is a key pillar of the Australian economy which employs 80,000 people in the industry supply chain, largely in regional areas;

(b) natural gas is connected to more than five million Australian homes and provided 42 per cent of the energy consumed by the Australian manufacturing sector in 2022;

(c) natural gas is essential to Australia achieving its net zero target by 2050;

(d) Australia has a critical role in providing a reliable source of natural gas to trusted trading partners which rely on our supplies for energy security; and

(e) regional Australia has benefitted enormously from long-term investment in the natural gas sector;

(2) notes that:

(a) new natural gas supply is needed to meet energy demand and reduce emissions in Australia and overseas;

(b) natural gas shortfalls will severely impact energy security and add to cost of living pressures; and

(c) the natural gas sector provided $17.1 billion in taxes, royalties and charges in 2023-24 allowing governments to invest in critical services and public infrastructure; and

(3) urges the Government to take urgent action to provide policy certainty which allows the industry to bring on the new gas supply needed to address forecast shortfalls, ensure Australia's energy security, and rebuild investor confidence.

My very good friend the member for Gippsland is unwell today, so I send my best wishes, and I'm sure all of the people in the chamber would wish Darren all the best to overcome his ailments as quickly as possible and get back and join the fray.

This motion relates to the importance of gas, not only to our economy but, certainly, in terms of creating the energy that we need to maintain our society. As Western Australians, I and my very dear friend the excellent member for Durack, whose electorate hosts most of the major gas projects in this country, understand the importance of gas. Western Australians do tend to take gas somewhat for granted because we have plentiful gas. Under governments over the years—whether it be the Court government, back in the 1980s, when the gas fields were first being developed and the gas pipeline from Karratha or Dampier down to Bunbury was put in place—we've had plentiful gas, and it's generally been reasonably priced.

That's not the case on the east coast. Sadly, we've seen neglect or outright opposition to new gas projects coming online, and, of course, we're now seeing the result of those policies by governments of all stripes on the east coast, which are now starting to see gas running out, becoming short in supply and getting very expensive.

I wouldn't normally go to the Sydney Morning Herald to find out information on how important gas is, but, on the weekend, Mike Foley and Nick Toscano published an article in the Sydney Morning Herald where they said:

The east coast of Australia will need 13 gigawatts of new gas fired electricity generation—the equivalent of building 26 new gas plants—within the next 25 years …

This is how important gas is, and the reality is starting to bite home. This is not the journalists' opinion; this is the Australian Energy Market Operator's latest report that indicates that that level of gas is going to be required.

Of course, the Grattan Institute is also not a place I would normally go to find support for the gas sector. However, climate policy expert Tony Wood said that the government's policy to encourage more renewables, known as the Capacity Investment Scheme, risks leaving the grid in a mess because gas was excluded. These are policies which are being implemented at the moment and are going to have long-term implications for our economy and, as I say, our society, which relies on gas very heavily.

Just to touch on some of the numbers around gas, there's been $300 billion invested in gas projects, mostly in WA and Queensland. I wouldn't have thought there has been a lot in Victoria recently; they're relying on gas from other states to keep their lights on—not a lot of investment. Last year, the gas industry paid $17.1 billion in taxes, royalties and charges to support the sort of services that the people of Australia quite rightly expect—the hospitals, the NDIS and those sorts of services. It employs 80,000 people in very well paid jobs. We've heard in the previous debate about wages. I'll tell you what—if you're working in the gas sector in Western Australia, you're earning a pretty good wage.

It provides 42 per cent of energy used by the manufacturing sector in Australia. That's what we've got left of it. Unfortunately, sadly, we're seeing more and more manufacturing—particularly heavy manufacturing, which relies on affordable and reliable baseload power—closing up. Sadly, in my part of the world, we're seeing the nickel industry in serious trouble. Potentially, the nickel smelter in Kalgoorlie will be closed by BHP in the next month or two, at the cost of up to 3½ thousand jobs. As I said, this is the outcome of the policies that the current government and certainly some state governments have pursued for some time.

Finally, five million homes are connected to gas in this country. People will be getting home tonight and turning the gas heater on to keep the house warm if they can afford to. In Victoria, of course, you're not allowed to use gas anymore. We have to use electricity, but we don't quite know where that electricity's going to come from, particularly when people get home at six o'clock in the evening and the sun's not shining and the wind's not blowing.

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