Media release

Gas lobby secures taxpayer funding from Federal government for a failing industry

The gas lobby has had another win in its efforts to destroy Australia’s future, with a successful campaign pressuring the Federal government to continue to back a failing industry.

Commenting on the Federal government’s gas announcement, Dan Gocher, Director of Climate & Environment at the Australasian Centre for Corporate Responsibility (ACCR) said:

“For two decades, the Coalition has said we should ‘let the market decide’, while coal and gas companies said we shouldn’t be ‘picking winners’ with the Renewable Energy Target. But the government is now preparing to throw millions of taxpayer dollars at a failing industry.

“The gas industry’s fingerprints - including Origin Energy and Santos - are all over this latest announcement, with the Coalition prioritising the Beetaloo, Cooper Basin and Narrabri projects for development.

“Over the last several months, Australian gas companies have written off billions of dollars in shareholder value, as they face the looming reality that some of their reserves will likely be stranded.

AEMO’s Integrated System Plan confirmed that we simply don’t need any more gas-fired power generation, because existing plants are not even being used to their full capacity.

“If we are to have any chance of meeting our Paris Goals, we simply cannot develop any new gas fields, let alone five new basins.

“The Federal government may have finally given up on thermal coal but the carbon lobby won’t be deterred, by pushing gas, another dirty fossil fuel - which is proven to have the same, if not worse emissions than coal once fugitive methane emissions are factored in.”

Background

ACCR has filed shareholder resolutions with BHP and Origin Energy for consideration at their AGMs in October, calling for a review of its industry associations’ advocacy through COVID-19.