Paul Scarr (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Multicultural Engagement) Share this | Hansard source

It's always a privilege to follow my good friend Senator Babet. There was a lot of common sense in that contribution from Senator Babet. Thank you very much, Senator, for your contribution. I also rise to support Senator Canavan's motion in this respect. Senator Canavan is a great warrior for our home state of Queensland and for the resources industry, as reflected in this motion.

There was a point that Senator Canavan made which we should all reflect on—that is, that the gas supply market outlook report indicated that gas-fired power stations, because of gas shortfalls, may have to use diesel fuel to operate. Just reflect on that: gas-fired power stations have been built on the expectation that there would be gas supply—and there's an abundance of gas reserves across this country; we're blessed to have all the gas reserves we have in this country. Those gas-fired power stations built on the presumption that there would actually be gas supply to feed them are actually going to have to rely on diesel fuel, which, as Senator Canavan has said, is the greatest emitter of carbon. Diesel fuel in gas-fired power stations—how did we get to this position with an abundance of reserves? It's absolute madness.

At the same time, I am hearing various calls from various parties for an LNG import terminal for Australia. Again, when issues were raised by stakeholders about constructing an LNG import terminal, it was madness. It's like taking coal to Newcastle: absolute madness given the gas supply that we have in Australia. That is supply that we should not be just using here but exporting. We've seen the United States now overtake Australia and Qatar as an LNG exporter. We're missing those opportunities. The last gas market report, for quarter 1 2024, from the International Energy Association, shows natural gas markets are expected to return to growth in 2024.

Global gas demand is forecast to grow by 2.5 per cent in 2024. Demand for gas, a key transition tool, is still going up. That's what the market reports are telling us. And yet we're having trouble supplying our own gas market. Not only are we not taking advantage of the opportunities that are there all over the world, including in Asia, with regard to LNG exports; we also have insufficient gas to provide security of supply to our own power stations. It's absolute madness.

This all comes back to the timing of the pipeline projects. A project in the gas market, as in any resource market, starts with exploration. You go through a feasibility study and getting your finance for construction and then you start producing. The latest Resources and energy major projects report tells us that project proponents are actually withdrawing their projects. They've given up. Seven projects were dropped altogether in the gas space. Three projects were delayed and 11 did not progress. That is a total of 55 per cent of the major gas projects in this report not going ahead as they should be. But that capital is simply being redeployed overseas, so other nations are going to get the benefit of that capital investment. Other nations are going to get the benefit of those export dollars. Other nations are going to get the benefit of that cheap energy supply. Australia is going to miss out.

Senator Chisholm, in his contribution to the debate, can point the finger over at this side of the chamber. I am proud of the previous coalition government's record of developing our natural resources. It's provided a tidal wave of revenue for the budget, as we've seen over the last few years from all of those resource projects that were approved under the coalition government. But the policy parameters under the current government are convincing the owners of capital, especially capital that could be invested in gas projects, to invest offshore, and that's to the detriment of all Australians.