Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

People who are smarter than me have estimated that something like 178,000 petajoules of gas is potentially there in the Beetaloo Sub-basin. What does it mean? To lay people like myself and probably most of the people listening or watching at the moment, that means there is around 200 years of supply. Around 200 years of east coast supply is potentially there in the Beetaloo Sub-basin. It is a huge resource. Estimates are that there would be something in the order of 6,500 jobs. It would have a real income impact of $2.8 billion for the Northern Territory and around $9 billion Australia for a whole. I want to play up here that it is not just the benefits to the Northern Territory. There are potentially liquids in the basin as well. We haven't really exploited a major liquid fuel basin since the Bass Strait in the 1960s. We have declining liquid fuel security. Opportunities like this are essential to help us secure our energy needs for Australia and secure the safety of our nation as well.