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Audio: Natural gas a 'super growth' sector: Deloitte (ABC Rural)
A report by advisory and economics firm Deloitte identifies the liquefied natural gas (LNG) industry as the largest of the so-called 'super growth' sectors for Australia.

The report, called Catching the Next Wave, is part of Deloitte Australia's Building the Lucky Country series.

It identifies five 'super growth' sectors for the next 20 years amd outlines the five natural advantages Australia has over international competitors, as well as listing capacity constraints such as regulatory burdens, high wages, low productivity and escalating costs.

The top five are natural gas, agribusiness, tourism, international education and wealth management

The head of Deloitte WA, Mike McNulty, says for the last five years, the LNG sector has been focused on infrastructure development.

But he says the next phase will be the ramp up of exports to Asia.

"I think gas is one of the most exciting things developments that we've had in this country for a very, very long time," he said.

"What we've seen in gas over the last five years is enormous investment, but very few of those projects have come onstream yet.

"So the production and output of LNG over the next four or five years is going to go up two and a half times.

"That is a huge transition. It's going to pay enormous dividends back to the country.

"We will actually be producing more gas than Qatar in the Middle East."

Mr McNulty says it would be foolish to think that Australia is the only country likely to ride the gas wave to prosperity.

And he warns that the regulatory burdens need to be streamlined "in an environmentally and socially acceptable way".

"There is competition around the world, there's a lot of gas around the world.

'If we don't actually provide an environment to implement projects quickly, efficiently and reliably, then companies will invest elsewhere.

"I think that's a reality that many people don't realise."