Gas vs Activism
The case for greater gas supply is growing, except among those ignoring facts and putting ideology first. By Tim James.
The left seek to demonise gas as a dirty fossil fuel with no future. They’re wrong.
In February this year Greens leader Adam Bandt declared that if you are a gas company your business model is “unsustainable, threatening human life and you have to go”.
This week Greens leader Adam Bandt was joined by crossbench MPs including Warringah’s Zali Steggall to condemn the (as yet not formally published) advice of the National COVID-19 Commission Manufacturing Taskforce in relation to gas and to call for a reduction in the use of gas in Australia. Andrew Wilkie MP tweeted that the report will “lock in dangerous climate change for generations to come”. They also attacked the NCC and its members who are giving advice to the government at this time.
The early draft interim report of the NCC Manufacturing Taskforce, again as yet unpublished, certainly does speak to the need for gas to underpin manufacturing, as Watercooler reported last week. There’s nothing new nor controversial about that given the role affordable and reliable energy must play in making manufacturing viable.
Adam Bandt, Zali Steggall et al see the NCC with cynicism and cast it as an entity riddled with politics and self-interest. These crossbenchers choose to neither understand nor respect its role. It is simply a group of business and community leaders giving advice to government. It even changed its name the other week from “Coordinating Commission” to “Commission Advisory Board” to make that even more clear. The crossbench members couldn’t even get this right. Australians accept that now is an essential time for business and community leaders to be engaged in giving the government their best advice.
What’s more, when it comes to gas, these crossbenchers claim to know better than experts, agencies, global bodies and companies around the world, and certainly here in Australia, who understand the need, role and opportunity for gas to grow in Australia’s future energy mix.
The Watercooler recently laid out an extensive series of authorities and reports that have stated the case for the future of gas in Australia. AEMO, the CSIRO, the International Energy Agency, the recent Technology Road Map and, yes, trade unions too, among others, have made the case for gas going forward. The Watercooler has also spelt out the momentum among state government steps towards gas in recent months.
Beyond these, just this week a new 20 year plan for the national electricity market was released by AEMO. There are numerous references to gas fired generation being among a substantial volume of new dispatchable resources needed to back up renewables. So gas has a future in electricity as well as in its own right.
The Menzies Research Centre is well advanced with research that will further strengthen the case for gas in Australia, both in its environmental and energy credentials. Gas is the cleanest-burning hydrocarbon, producing around half the CO2 and just one tenth of the air pollutants of coal when burnt to generate electricity. Globally, the switch to gas from more carbon intensive fuels has prevented 500 million tonnes of CO2 entering the atmosphere in the last ten years.
Yet Adam Bandt says gas is unsustainable, threatening life and must go while Zali Steggall and others effectively agree.
Some thought-provoking developments also this week in relation to the proposed Santos Narrabri gas project. The activists are piling on, as they have for many years now, to seek to stop it. It was reported this week that less than ten per cent of the project’s opponents are from the local area. The Narrabri Chamber of Commerce President Russell Stewart put it well:
“We are sick and tired of out-of-towners coming in and hysterically whipping things up into a frenzy based on no scientific evidence,” Mr Stewart said. “We need this project to help provide jobs and careers to keep young people in the town.”
Good to hear the community putting the case whilst Santos responded to recent negative media reports with this statement:
“As the Department of Planning found, Narrabri would encourage the development of gas-fired power stations in NSW to compensate for the closure of several coal-fired power stations in the next 20 years and reduce greenhouse gas emissions in NSW."
Adam Bandt, Zali Steggall and others apparently know better. Their actions, including during this last week, reflect ideology and an activist stance above all. It’s a risk Australia can’t afford at this time. Gas needs to grow in Australia and its crossbench critics should focus on the facts and put their country first.