Doug Sheridan Points Out…
Pretzel energy logic in a world that be running out of beer.
Australias energy policy is a mess across all fronts. Bad policy and interventionist courts are strangling what long have been Australia's competitive advantages—an abundance of natural resources and a stable political and regulatory regime to exploit it. At the same time, the energy transition to lower emissions is grinding households and industry into energy poverty.
Meanwhile, the promised environmental good of lower-emissions power generation is being squandered in the race to flatten hills, enrage farmers and knock down koala habitat forests to industrialise nature. In Queensland, Code 23, which prioritises renewable energy projects, is built around a paradox that reasons climate change is killing koalas. Renewable energy prevents climate change. Therefore, renewable energy saves the lives of koalas. In summary, hurting koalas helps them.
Tough environmental laws for offshore exploration of oil and gas are also being exploited to block billions worth of investment projects that will provide Asian customers with lower-emissions alternatives to coal. There are now warnings of a logjam of more than 40 environmental approvals that remain in limbo, amplifying Australia's sovereign risk.
The issue has been brought to a head by a Federal Court ruling that has hit pause on Woodside Energy $I6bn Scarborough gas project off Western Australia. The court found the regulator wrongly had approved a seismic survey because of inadequate consultation with Indigenous Australians. The issue has been building since the court ruled last year that Santos Ltd had not adequately consulted with traditional owners over its proposed $5.8bn Barossa project in the Timor Sea.
In reality, the issue is less about indigenous rights or an interventionist court and more to do with government incompetence. Resources Minister Madeleine King made sensible comments recently, saying gas was essential to modern supply chains and Australia needed to ensure gas demand decreased faster than supply through the energy transition.
Environmental protection is important, both for fossil fuel and renewable energy developments. So, too, is the right for judicial review of decisions that have been made. But it is the govt's responsibility to set the rules that will achieve its policy objectives, which must include building the economy and safeguarding jobs as well as protecting the environment and taking action on climate change.
To Sum It Up: The Scarborough decision, which effectively has halted approvals already given, must be the final wake-up call for the government to get its regulatory house in order.
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