Appea hails Victorian opposition's gas plan

Australia’s peak oil and gas body, Appea, on August 27 hailed the Victorian opposition’s recognition that natural gas is central to a cleaner energy future. It said that opposition leader Matthew Guy’s pledge to end natural gas bans and use the energy source to replace coal and partner with renewables on the road to net zero was a sensible position backed by experts.

“This position understands the fundamental energy system changes occurring globally – with natural gas widely acknowledged to have a central, and even wider, role in the future energy mix than it does today,” Appea CEO Samantha McCulloch said.

McCulloch said Guy had called out the untenable position of Victoria relying heavily on coal-powered electricity while having minimal onshore gas production because of a decade of development bans. Although onshore conventional gas explorations in the state restarted last year, fracking remains banned. The state goes to the polls later in the year. 

“Victorians currently pay A$2 extra for every gigajoule of gas to be transported from Queensland under this policy, which ignores the fundamental rule that the cheapest gas is the gas produced closest to the customer,” she said.

“The industry has announced over $20 billion of new supply investments over the past two years. But little of that has been in Victoria because of a decade of uncertainty, moratoriums and bans. We need certainty and the investment policy settings to be right,” McCulloch added.