The case against Australia’s gas expansion

1) The Australian government is banking on a tax payer funded ‘gas-fired recovery’

The government has put its 5 Basin gas-fired recovery plan as central to its economic vision for exports, ignoring industry forecasts and pressuring critics such as AEMO’s Audrey Zibelman who was asked to change a report’s conclusion and refused to do so.

The fossil fuel industry is heavily subsidised, receiving more – $10bn in FY20-21 – than it pays in royalties. The big players in the gas industry pay zero tax despite large profits from exporting Australian resources.

2) Public money is set to drive gas expansion despite poor industry prospects

Demand for fossil fuels is in decline across the world and investing in new infrastructure today is likely to generate stranded assets with gas exports falling off a cliff after 2030 according to the IEA. It should not be the government’s role to prop up gas finance with tax payer funds where international uncertainty around gas has increased as the world is taking a decisive turn away from a fossil-fuelled future..

Our government wants to tip public money into massive gas expansion despite our major trading partners, the G7, and even the notoriously conservative International Energy Agency (IEA) saying that the world must rapidly transition away from coal, oil and gas to avoid catastrophic climate damage. As IEA’s Fatih Birol says “If governments are serious about the climate crisis, there can be no new investments in oil, gas and coal, from now – from this year.”

3) Fossil fuels are driving accelerating climate damage

“Australia’s dramatic expansion in liquefied gas production and export is a major factor driving current and future emissions growth” reports the Climate Council, and also states “Emissions from the extraction, processing and export of gas have been the main driver behind Australia’s official emissions staying so high…More investment in gas risks locking in huge investment losses and environmental harm.”

4) The government wants to use our money to pay fossil fuel companies to steal our kids’ future 

In a widely circulated paper, Weapons of Gas Destruction, The Australia Institute reveals the massive scale of Australia’s gas expansion plans.

• “Australia’s existing pipeline of 22 gas projects, along with identified and prospective gas resources, could emit up to three times the annual world emissions”
• “Taking a global carbon budget approach to meeting the Paris Agreement goal of 1.5 degrees, Australia’s use of gas resources would use up 28% of the global carbon budget”
• “Compared to the world’s largest corporate polluters, unleashing Australia’s gas resources would emit more than double the historical emissions of Chevron, Exxon, BHP and Rio Tinto put together”

Top scientists are openly discussing the threat of societal collapse “a credible scenario this century”, a follow-on from a 2017 broadside in Nature: “should emissions continue to rise beyond 2020, or even remain level, the temperature goals set in Paris become almost unattainable.” It appears that our Government can’t face up to reality. These new massive gas plans would add significant global pressure to our already unstable climate. Let’s heed the dire warning in Steffen et al: “We cannot exclude the risk that a cascade of feedbacks could push the Earth System irreversibly into a ‘Hothouse Earth’ pathway.”

Australia is blessed with some of the world’s best renewable resources, a skilled workforce, and most of the mineral precursors needed for renewables manufacturing.

It’s time to step up and work for a sustainable future, where we export electrons directly, or as liquified hydrogen or embedded in finished goods, instead of death-dealing coal and gas.

Join us, and support campaigns against gas expansion

Success! AGL’s Crib Point gas terminal was defeated

The AGL proposal to build a gas import terminal in the heart of a pristine Westernport precinct was rejected by the Victorian government in March 2021 after a longstanding campaign by many local, community and environment groups.

The Victorian government media announcement described their reason as wishing to protect the marine environment and said AGL’s proposal would cause ”unacceptable impacts” due to its location in an an internationally recognised wetland and 12 kilometres from a marine park. The proposal was rejected after a sustained campaign, wide support across the community, a 10 week hearing and a record 6,000 submissions received, with an overwhelming majority opposed to the terminal.

“This has been an exhaustive, open and transparent process and this is the right outcome for the local community, the environment and Victoria as a whole,” Mr Wynne said. “It’s very clear to me that this project would cause unacceptable impacts on the Western Port environment and the Ramsar wetlands – it’s important that these areas are protected.”

Lighter Footprints’ members supported other groups including Save Westernport and Environment Victoria, were involved in actions, and we wrote letters and submissions.

This campaign really showed what people power can do in a more public way. Sometimes it is the quiet conversations that are called for. Meetings with MP’s and government departments. Rational and reasoned logic. But sometimes an issue touches peoples emotions in a very primal way. People’s power can then become truly galvanized and the community collectively shows our politicians what we care about and how many people will mobilize. In the end we had all sides of politics – Federal and State on our side at Westernport.  It was a truly amazing community effort. Save Westernport and EV campaigned for years. And Lighter Footprints  helped ‘bring it to the city’.

We campaigned strongly against these localized environmental impacts, but just as importantly, we also raised two more general points that apply to any proposed gas development in Victoria:

Corio campaign

Geelong residents are opposed to a gas terminal proposed by Viva for Corio Bay.

Sally Fisher from Geelong Sustainability said:

“Viva’s proposal takes our community in the wrong direction. Fossil fuels like gas and coal are on the way out.

“Viva says it supports the transition to cleaner sources of power but, so far, the only detailed proposal is to import gas, a dirty, polluting fuel that can be as damaging to our climate as coal.

“Geelong can be a renewable energy hub. We have the infrastructure, skilled workforce, and proud manufacturing heritage to position our city as the place for a rapidly growing clean energy industry, especially given our proximity to the big battery planned for Moorabool.”

Betaloo Basin campaign

Currently the Australian government sees the Betaloo Basin as integral to its ambitious 5 Basin gas-fired recovery plans. However the scale of climate risk is very high.

• Betaloo would be a massive carbon project – “with enough energy to power Australia for 200 years”, threatening our Paris targets according to the ABC.
• Emissions from just one field – 117 million tonnes of greenhouse gas – would be equivalent to 22 per cent of Australia’s current annual emissions.
• The government has has acknowledged the scale carbon risk – in 2019, the former Commonwealth Environment and Energy Department warned Minister Taylor that emissions “might be difficult to offset … Developments could eventually lead to life cycle emissions in Australia of 5 to 39 million tonnes of  carbon dioxide equivalent per year.”

Traditional owners oppose NT fracking, fearing ecological impacts, saying they had not been properly consulted. Communities lead the Protect Country Alliance, mobilising environmental organisations, youth organisations and the grassroots. Opposition centres around sacred water, impacts on aquifers, health and socio/cultural risks, and indigenous climate justice.

Public funds are being used to accelerate gas and oil exploration with $220 million in new funding earmarked to support the Beetaloo development. This includes the $50 million Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program and the government committing $174 million for the Northern Territory Gas Industry Roads Upgrades. Recently indigenous groups were promised a Senate Inquiry, with public ‘consultation’ (with a two week deadline) through the recent Senate Submissions. You can read Lighter Footprints’ submission here. Despite this consultation process Minister Pitt has just announced $21 million to a company with strong links to the Liberal Party “to frack the Betaloo Basin”, and Origin resumed drilling finding “valuable liquids-rich gas” (yes, appears Betaloo is still all about oil).

There are at least 10 fossil fuel companies involved in expanding the Beetaloo, including Origin.

Why is Australia still pursuing fossil fuels the world looks to decarbonise?

Demand is in decline across the world and investing in new infrastructure today is  likely to result in stranded assets, particularly given that renewable energy and storage solutions are expanding rapidly. Fossil fuel companies are looking for taxpayers to provide substantial cover for these risks.

Narrabri gas project and Kurri Kurri gas plant

 

Scarborough LNG project