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APPEA Says Workers’ Union Should Advocate Natural Gas, Not Subsidies

APPEA

The Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association (APPEA) has released a statement arguing that the Australian Workers’ Union (AWU) would be better off to push for the immediate development of New South Wales’ plentiful natural gas instead of advocating for the implementation of subsidies on supply to manufacturers, businesses and households in other states.

APPEA Acting Chief Executive Paul Fennelly said: “The AWU’s misguided campaign for gas reservation offers no sensible or viable solution to impending gas challenges”.

“Rather, it’s a certain investment killer that suggests NSW’s future energy security can be found in asking other states to forego economic opportunity and underwrite NSW inaction.”

A report undertaken for the Australian Energy Market Operator – Eastern and Southern Australia: Existing Gas Reserves and Resources – estimated that NSW has up to 85,000 petajoules (PJ) of undeveloped gas resources. The state’s current demand is about 156PJ per annum.

“Despite potential resources to meet the state’s current gas demand for the next 500 years, NSW continues to import 95 per cent of its supply,” Mr Fennelly said.

“All sides of politics need to explain what they are doing to harness the benefits of a safe, affordable and abundant natural gas supply for NSW because saying ‘no’ to natural gas has serious consequences for the state’s 1.3 million gas users.

“It’s time for unions to support the exploration and development of natural gas from coal seams.

“Queensland has done so to incredible effect – creating a $65 billion industry that has employed 40,000 people at its peak and is continuing to deliver benefits to rural communities and farmers.

“No one is proposing an industry of similar scale in NSW, but there are Australian companies standing ready, willing and able to develop the state’s resources for use in NSW. They should be allowed to get on with the job. The AWU membership probably stands to benefit as much as anyone.”

Last year, the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Energy Council, made up of Federal and State Ministers, dismissed possible gas market interventions via a ‘gas reservation’ policy or ‘national interest test’ – a clear recognition that such calls present no viable way to securing gas supply and putting downward pressure on gas prices.

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