Opinion article by Samantha McCulloch in the West Australian on natural gas powering the WA economy

Whatever you do today, it almost certainly would not be possible without natural gas.

Western Australia runs on natural gas. It provides 60 per cent of the state’s electricity, and more than 800,000 homes and businesses are connected to the gas network.

Natural gas is also the main source of energy used in manufacturing and, crucially, it provides more than half the energy used by WA’s mining and minerals sector.

Combined, WA’s resources sector employs around 135,000 people and recorded sales of $238 billion last financial year, which helped drive WA’s seventh consecutive year of jobs growth. The resources sector will pay an estimated $9.4 billion in royalties to the WA Government this year that will deliver a $3.1 billion surplus for the state budget and help fund hospitals, schools, roads and other essential services.

It’s not surprising, then, that an overwhelming majority of Western Australians recognise the gas industry’s importance to the state’s economy.

Recent polling in the federal electorates of Curtin, Tangney and Bullwinkel – three key WA seats that could decide the next federal election – found that more than 70 per cent of voters support WA’s gas industry and see an important role for gas in WA’s energy mix.

The polling by JWS Research also found that almost half of voters across the three Perth seats are more likely to vote for a candidate that supports the gas industry, while fewer than 10 per cent said they were more likely to vote for a candidate that did not support the gas industry.

Even among Greens voters, more than 70 per cent believe natural gas is important to the state economy. The results reflect a strong appreciation among Western Australians that natural gas is central to the state’s current and future economic success.

Natural gas is also critical to meeting net zero targets here in Australia and in our region, where many economies remain heavily reliant on coal.

That’s why efforts by the Greens and Teals to pressure the government to reject the North West Shelf extension are both concerning and counterproductive. The NWS extension is needed to secure future gas supply for the WA economy and for our valued trading partners.

The NWS approval process is also a poster child for how regulatory uncertainty and delays are eroding Australia’s attractiveness as an investment destination.

This is an existing facility that has already undergone six years of environmental assessment to secure state government approval. There is simply no justification for the federal government to impose further delays and undermine WA’s future economic and energy security.

Fixing these protracted approvals processes in our national environmental laws and boosting new gas supply are among the priorities identified in Australian Energy Producers’ federal election platform, released today.

Australia’s energy security and economic growth is contingent on ongoing gas supply. Natural gas is also essential to Australia’s transition to net zero by 2050 and will play a critical role in the energy security and decarbonisation of our trade partners’ economies.

Contrary to what the Greens and anti-gas activists claim, Australia will need more gas, not less, in the coming decades.

The Australian Energy Market Operator’s (AEMO) 2024 WA Gas Statement of Opportunities found that WA’s daily gas consumption will be 25 per cent higher in 2034 due to increased demand from the state’s growing industrial and minerals processing sectors and declining production as fields retire.

Against this backdrop, AEMO forecasts that without additional gas supply above and beyond what is already committed, WA will have structural gas shortfalls from 2030, and a daily supply-demand gap of 14 per cent by 2034.

On the east coast, gas shortfalls loom from 2027.

And these shortfalls will hit Australian households and businesses hard – exacerbating cost of living pressures, risking blackouts, impacting jobs, and undermining the transformation to net zero.

Western Australians understand this. It’s why Premier Roger Cook last year implemented changes to streamline the state’s environmental approvals, and why he has been so strident in his opposition to Canberra’s attempts to add another layer of bureaucracy in our national environmental laws that would risk exacerbating delays and legal uncertainty for critical resources projects.

Australia has more than enough undeveloped gas resources to avoid the worst of the near-term shortfalls, meet our long-term energy needs and continue to supply LNG to our key partners in the region. But only if governments act now to correct Australia’s energy policy to fast-track new gas supply and encourage investment.

The Prime Minister and Opposition Leader have made several visits to WA in the past year to declare their support for the state’s resources sector.

Expect to see more of that between now and the election – not just because the election result could hinge on a handful of WA seats, but because Australia’s continued economic growth equally rests in the west.

With WA in the spotlight this election, Western Australians can send a strong message to the next Australian Government to back the resources sector and deliver long-term energy security and continued economic growth for WA and our nation.

Because when WA prospers, so does Australia.