East Coast Gas Reservation Debate Intensifies as Ayers Defends Government’s Industry Strategy
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Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayers weighed in on the mounting debate over a proposed East Coast gas reservation, emphasizing its importance to Australia’s industrial future and the balance between market settings, energy security, and economic growth.
Asked about New South Wales Premier Chris Minns’ advocacy for an East Coast gas reservation as well as calls to reduce “red and green tape” around the Narrabri gas project, Ayers said he had “no difficulty with Chris advocating that proposition,” while confirming the government’s Cabinet review into securing Australian gas supply.
“I’m particularly focused on those big industrial gas users who need gas as a feedstock to secure a future made in Australia,” Ayers explained in an Skynews interview. He stressed that Cabinet, led by Madeleine King and Chris Bowen, is “engaged in a review on exactly that question: how do we secure enough Australian gas for Australia?”
Ayers underscored the government’s determination to set “market settings” in the interests of the nation, noting, “blue-collar Australia now and into the future requires delivery on gas market settings that are in the interests of Australia”.
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He rejected criticisms that policy priorities on emissions reduction are at odds with “generating more stable and eventually cheaper power,” arguing that the agenda is “completely consistent with our emissions objectives and our industrial objectives, our economic objectives and our objectives about what we’re trying to deliver in industrial regions”.
On the cost and market dynamics of energy, Ayers said, “The lowest cost by a country mile is renewables plus gas plus storage” and explained that gas is “important for households as a peaking capacity in the electricity sector where you want just the right amount. You don’t want too much because it’s very, very expensive”.
He acknowledged frustration over not achieving a “$275 cut in electricity prices” promised without subsidies, saying “there are two pathways, one laden with challenge as a national interest objective to modernize our electricity system,” while warning against returning to “delinquency and self-indulgence” of the past.
Ayers sharply criticized opposition attempts to expand coal-fired power, stating, “Coal-fired power stations that nobody wants to build… it’s expensive, it pushes electricity prices up and you can’t find a single person in the investment community who would have the remotest interest in doing it,” recalling millions spent unsuccessfully under the previous government.
He called for urgency and progressive unity to address the challenges of energy delivery, comparing the effort to building national infrastructure in earlier decades.
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