The advantage of a gas turbine is that it can be quickly started...

The advantage of a gas turbine is that it can be quickly started and be online in a few minutes. Ideal for fluctuating demand but can also provide baseload.
Australia has an abundance of natural gas but mismanaged by short term politics of both Labour and Liberal governments. The current gas 'crisis' was widely reported to occur many years ago with the approval of Gladstone LNG.
Privatisation of the networks with a hope that somehow market forces would lower prices rather than the companies gouge maximum profits was deeply flawed.
To me this is just another example of failure of our current Labour/Liberal political system.