Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

That the Senate reaffirms the need for investment to ensure future domestic gas supply and that the Government's axing of policies to increase supply, coupled with its internal divisions on gas market policy, will only drive gas prices higher.

It has become apparent over the last few weeks that this is a Labor government of old, not of Hawke or Keating or Curtin but of the disastrous Rudd-Gillard-Rudd days. Labor has been marred by cabinet leaks, indecision and warring cabinet ministers. This has culminated in the latest failure: domestic gas policy. They've shot themselves in the foot and now they're complaining it hurts.

Back in September, after the Jobs and Skills Summit, the Prime Minister unequivocally ruled out any thought of a new mining tax, and yet, less than two weeks ago, it was leaked that this was back on the table—another broken promise from a broken government. It is 'mining tax 2.0'.

Labor's own budget has forecast gas and electricity price increases of over 40 per cent and 50 per cent over the next two years. What was their solution? It was to cut critical funding to projects designed to provide a greater gas supply. In the October budget they axed the Beetaloo Cooperative Drilling Program, a program designed to secure gas supply from the Beetaloo basin—a basin that could supply over 200,000 petajoules of gas. That's 200 years worth of supply.

In the same budget they slashed more than half of the funding for the Cooper and Adavale basins plan. Over $30 million allocated to increase domestic gas supplies was gutted, further stranding investors trying to increase our domestic gas supply. To make matters worse, Labor has showered green lawfare offices, like the Environmental Defenders Office and Environmental Justice Australia, with almost $10 billion in handouts.

What we have is a government in crisis. Labor has no plan to address the cost of living and no plan to address rising electricity prices. All we have are thought bubbles. Furthermore, state governments that are now baying for reservations, price caps and government interventions are the same states that have locked gas away, reducing supply to the domestic market. The hypocrisy is astounding, for it will not be states like Victoria who suffer under a price cut or resources tax; it will be states like Western Australia and Queensland, who already produce gas for domestic users.

Instead of working to get more gas out of the ground to help Australian families and industries, Labor is laying siege to the resources sector from all sides. Mining companies are now warning that up to 33,000 jobs are at risk from a potential new mining tax 2.0 from Labor, as well as from its irresponsible industrial relations legislation. That would imperil projects valued at up to $77 billion, spreading an investment uncertainty contagion. The mining sector has identified 140 projects subject to pre-final investment decisions that would be at risk from new taxes and ill thought through industrial relations changes. More broadly, with Labor reviewing the EPBC Act and creating additional barriers for approvals, potentially up to $100 billion in investments and 174,000 jobs are now at risk from the Minister for the Environment's politically charged project reviews.

We know that the surest way to secure, affordable, reliable gas is through increasing supply. The coalition knows this. Minister King knows this. Unfortunately, some of her cabinet colleagues cannot fathom the thought of investing in gas supply. The coalition developed our strategic basins program to target projects that brought domestic gas supply online—projects in the Beetaloo, Cooper, Adavale, North Bowen and Galilee. These projects were backed by industry and, with government support, had the potential to bring hundreds of petajoules of gas to market. The coalition invested over $360 million in our strategic basin plans and the National Gas Infrastructure Plan—funding to ensure Australian households, consumers and manufacturers have access to affordable gas.

Gas is and will continue to be a necessity for decades to come, through power generation, manufacturing, industry, agriculture and energy transitions. Labor need to stop their internal bickering and guarantee more gas supply now.