A fight over the future of Australia’s gas industry is intensifying ahead of the federal election, as the Coalition promises to fast-track drilling permits to unleash “bucketloads” of new gas, and Labor hits out at “cowboy” policies that threaten to override national environmental laws.The Peter Dutton-led opposition is targeting a dramatic increase to the supply of natural gas if it wins the coming election, promising to halve the approval times for companies seeking to develop new gas projects, and extend the life of Woodside Energy’s huge North West Shelf gas operations in Western Australia by another 50 years. While Australia exports liquefied natural gas (LNG) from Queensland, the Northern Territory and Western Australia, officials are sounding the alarm that consumers in the most populous south-eastern states are heading for a gas shortage in as little as three yearsunless more supplies are urgently made available.The vast Gippsland Basin gas fields in the Bass Strait, which have kept gas-reliant homes and businesses on the eastern seaboard well supplied for decades, are rapidly drying out, with scant new projects to replace them.Opposition resources spokeswoman Susan McDonald is developing a plan to spur greater exploration and development of the fossil fuel, which would give companies access to accelerated approvals in exchange for commitments to set aside a portion of their projects’ production for local buyers only.
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