Aaron Patrick: Anthony Albanese’s new environmental laws will damage an Australian success story

Last weekend, at a meeting of world leaders in South Africa, Anthony Albanese said natural gas was crucial for the conversion of Australia’s power grid from predominately coal-driven to less-predictable solar and wind. Four days later he cut a deal with the Greens party that damages the gas industry, which supplies almost half Australia’s homes with energy. Under an agreement to create an Environment Protection Agency, gas and coal projects have been excluded from what supporters refer to as “streamlined pathways” and opponents calls “fast-tracked approvals”. A more accurate description for the accelerated bureaucratic designation might be: less incredibly slow. Despite their huge contribution to the development of Australia, in terms of taxes, employment and technological advancement, major gas projects take longer to be approved than many marriages last. In NSW development of the Narrabri field, which could supply half the state’s gas, has cost Santos $1.5 billion over a decade — without being signed off by the courts or the company. More gas would make life cheaper for homes and businesses, and help revive manufacturing, one of the Albanese Government’s priorities. The change “goes against Australia’s national energy priorities for the energy transition,” Business Council of Australia chief executive Bran Black told The Nightly. “If we want an orderly, affordable move to net zero, we need a system that recognises gas as essential to that shift, not one that builds in new barriers.” The Prime minister’s decision to punish gas, which the Greens celebrated, was unnecessary. Mr Albanese could have struck a deal with the Coalition to reform environmental laws. That would have required him to share credit with the opposition. Instead, he chose to harm an Australian success story.