Extract AUST today. Productivity? Forget it! RACE TO TURN OFF...

Extract AUST today. Productivity? Forget it!
RACE TO TURN OFF THE GAS ‘ABSOLUTE INSANITY’
job losses, price spikes feared in scramble to hit green energy targets
JESS MALCOLM
A government-led push to rip out gas appliances and electrify millions of Australian homes in order to hit renewable energy targets will trigger job losses, energy price spikes and the premature shutdown of billions of dollars worth of gas assets, plumbers have warned.

Amid declarations the ACT’s imminent ban on gas for new homes and businesses was “insanity”, Master Plumbers Australia and New Zealand, the peak body representing the trade, has ramped up calls for governments to invest in green gas and will launch a national campaign against electrification.

The Albanese government wants to transition about five million homes off gas, investing $1.6bn to help low-income households and businesses install energy efficiency measures such as solar panels and electric appliances as part of a sweeping electrification package in the budget.
MPANZ chairman Tom Martin said the government was “throwing away” opportunities provided by biogas alternatives and that consumers were being forced into using electric appliances against their will.

The plumbing sector would be heavily affected in a transition towards renewables and the nation was at risk of energy price increases, reliability problems and blackouts if it moved off gas too quickly, he said.
“The NSW network is already stretched and Victoria has a huge gas network and obviously the existing system was never designed to take the load that will be needed to push through it in order to get rid of gas,” he said.
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