I have picked the eyes out of the Surfrider virtual townhalls: The following is Flambeau's transcription, it contains transcription errors, it is not 100% accurate, it is pretty close:
Zali Steggall:
"….other members business only stays on the paper for 18 Mondays, then they fall off, then the only way they come back on is that the Government calls it…."
Bruce Robertson:
"Well good day to you all, I should declare up front that I have an interest in PEP-11 because ah, I surf and I love the coast, all the way up the coast. I live on the mid north coast and I um and in Manly. So I am a local resident. So I have an interest in the outcome for PEP-11.
I have entitled my talk today “Feeding the Beast” and the beast is Australian Gas Exports. So if we just move onto the next slide.
Ahh look 70% of all gas produced on the East Coast of Australia is exported , so when they say ‘this is for the domestic market’, essentially they’re lying. Ahh so while the world is rushing away from fossil fuels, our Government has a gas fired recovery. And we are seeing the greatest expansion of the industry in my lifetime. We’re seeing new offshore permits being granted all around the country. We’re seeing new large acreages of new onshore permits being granted. We’re seeing new basins being opened up in every state and territory. EVERY state and territory, with the exception of the ACT, which is a little bit small really. The international agency has stated that no new natural gas fields are needed. Full stop. We don’t need them. Beyond those already under development. And yet here we are opening up more and more. Obviously we can’t get to net zero emissions by 2050 if we open up new gas fields like PEP-11. We cannot get there, it is not possible, to get to net zero emissions by 2050 if PEP-11 goes ahead.
Customers are running away from gas. This really is the key point, we must have customers if we are going to embark on a gas fired recovery. And put simply, we don’t. Japan announced its power plan recently to 2030. So that’s only eight and a half years away. Umm its calling for a doubling of renewable energy. And a halving of LNG in the power system. Now LNG is not only used in Power it is also used to heat homes, to cook with, and industrial applications, in Japan, but it means that their entire LNG imports will decline by 1/3. One third of the world’s largest market for importing LNG is going to disappear by 2030.
After a COVID-19 inspired slump in 2019 [he meant 2020] demand in the USA is going to see further declines in 2021 and 2022. And domestically we are seeing gas wind its way out of the energy system. And that’s the key point. Um look if we have a look at what is happening in Europe and the US and Japan and Asia we are going to see carbon border adjustment mechanisms which are essentially carbon taxes levied by foreign Governments on Australia because we are so recalcitrant when it comes to climate. We are not doing our bit. And we are going to get held to account in a financial sense. Ah essentially the gas industry is an appalling payer of tax. It does garner some royalties for offshore projects. For onshore projects the royalties make gas a loss making business for Governments. They spend more money administering, picking up liabilities, then they do make in royalties for onshore gas.
And here we have a representation for offshore wells going around Australia. And you can see they are really they’re concentrated on whats known as the North West shelf up in the north west, off W.A. The Bass Strait has been historically a big oil and gas producer. It is mainly a gas producer and it is now declining. Uh, and then we have PEP-11 stuck up there off Sydney. There has only been one well drilled there, which was drilled in 2010. And there was no oil and gas discovered with that well. But they’re looking to drill another one.
We should also have a look what is happening with our competitors. Qatar is the worlds second largest exporter of LNG, up until very recently it was the largest, so it is a very similar size to Australia in terms of LNG export, and it’s looking to increase its production by 64%. Qatar is the world’s lowest cost producer by a considerable margin. And it’s a low cost producer because their pretty good at producing gas for a start, they’re pretty good at what they do, we have to acknowledge that, they have a phenomenal resource that is located close to the coast in shallow water, which makes it very cheap to produce. They’re cutting prices to gain new contracts. So Australia is looking to increase its gas production at the very same time Qatar is massive expansion in its gas production, at the very same time our major market is running away from gas.
Just to let people know, domestic consumption in Australia is falling, its down 23% since 2014. And importantly the makeup of it is really important. What we’re seeing is residential and commercial usage has gone up since 2014 and we’re seeing industrial consumption has fallen and really it’s flatlined until the next plant closes basically. They will close um basically we’re seeing a de-industrialisation of Australia, due to the exorbitant gas prices that we pay in Australia. And it’s a slow process and you will see that industrial production step down much as it did between 2014-2017. You will see it step down again sometime in the next 12 to 24months. As these plants have to reinvest more capital you will suddenly see some close and that will step down. The surprising one here is what our Government always bangs on about ‘we need gas to firm up renewables’, well its absolute rubbish, when you have a look what’s actually occurred, gas usage in gas powered generation is down 67% since 2014. 67%!, now renewables have gone from virtually nothing to about 30% of our national electricity market in that time. Gas is simply too expensive to run, except for in Gas peaking plants. And gas peaking plants don’t use a lot of gas. And they don’t use a lot of gas because they’re not switched on very often. They’re very inefficient gas peaking plants. They’re very high green house gas emitters. But they’re not switched on very often. Moving right forward, the Victorian Government is being quiet innervative its looking to try to get its population off gas by looking improving efficiency of buildings and by usingreverse cycle air conditioners to heat and cool your home, rather than gas fired boilers. Its cheaper to do this. If you have gas on your home at the moment its cheaper to heat your home with electricity. And the reverse cycle airconditioner. And its cheaper to cook with modern induction stoves, and its more efficient to heat your water with a modern heat pump. So I encourage anyone who is on gas out there to get off gas, its only a little action that you could take for yourself, but it will make you feel better and it will make the planet feel better too. Gas really is not a “transition” fuel. The Australian energy market operator which is the only body that has actually modelled the national electricity market and had a look at this properly, it sees a smaller role for gas in the future in a renewables rich grid, in its integrated system. So this idea of um, gas as a transition fuel simply isn’t true in fact, as I showed you in the gas consumption figures and it isn’t true in theory. Look, Australian gas is just too expensive. Out of 54 countries surveyed, if we have a look, Australia on average was 12th most expensive market, but when you divide the market up into the East and West coast, because in Western Australia they have a domestic gas reservation policy, and gas is cheap in W.A. On the East coast of Australia it is exorbitantly expensive um it’s a similar price to those of our customers, which is an absurd situation, as it is very expensive to liquefy gas and its very expensive to ship gas in the specialised ships that you need. So we’re over 5, if you compare the similar big exporters like Qatar and the USA, we’re 5.5x the prices of gas to Qatar, its over 3x the price of gas in the USA, nearly 5x the price of gas in the Russian federation. Gas prices on the East Coast are not within a bulls roar of being internationally competitive. They are not even vaguely close to being internationally competitive. We are essentially getting ripped off by our gas producers, there is a small number of them on the East Coast and they control the price, they set it above the international prices, well, well above international prices, and our Government allows this to occur.
The ACCC has a never ending gas enquiry into gas prices, and essentially it always comes to same conclusion, they’re too expensive and we pay too much. It is a never ending enquiry, most price enquiries the ACCC embark on they last 12 or maybe 18months, this one has been going since 2015 and there is no end in sight, because the Government is taking no action to address the high gas prices in Australia. The good news, battery cost deflation is faster than either solar or wind, which we’ve seen massive drops in price. So these renewable sources are cost competitive now with fossil fuel generation, they’re cheaper and they’re being adopted. We’ve seen massive , in the light blue things we see here, we’ve seen massive investment in solar, wind and battery storage.
Unfortunately we have a government that is heavily subsidising gas power plants. Unfortunately we have a Government which is heavily subsidising gas power plants, Tallawarra B got $78m from the NSW Governemnt and $5m from the Federal government. 21% of the entire projects value was your money. Snowy hydro is building with your money, the Kurri Kurri $610m gas plant, that $610 figure is way way way too low, it would be closer to $900-1B by the time the pipelines are built and various other infrastructure that, that project needs. Twiggy Forrest a man who is one of Australia’s richest men, his copping $30m in subsidies from the Federal Government for his ‘plant’ down in Wollongong, wouldn’t have thought he would have needed any Government money but anyway, moving right along.
On the emissions front, just very briefly the key point is global methane emissions which is the main componenet of natural gas are growing very very strongly. To reach Paris we can’t have emissions growing strongly, we have to actually flatten them and finally bring them down. The current policy in Australia is to accelerate, accelerate, the rate of methane growth globally. We are a global player in this industry, we can’t run away from it, its our fault that graph. The last part of that graph is our fault. That’s what we’re doing, we’re not this rubbish that somehow or another we’ve got some climate commitments and we’re doing our best, is not in line with the science. That’s probably fixed it all up from me. It’s about it for me, I would encourage you to write to your local member, if you have gas in your home, I would encourage you to get off the gas. And I would encourage you to continue to campaign to stop PEP-11. The longer this goes on for, the more likely that they will, the minister will approve it. So we need to raise our voices right now, as this forum is trying to do, and we need to get out there and tell our politicians that it’s unacceptable. Thank you"
Zali Steggall:
"I know that some people have said “ah look, like labor have said this is not the way to do it” I have legal advice that this is the way to do it, so anyone that has given a pretty feeble excuse that this isn’t the best way to do it I would call on them to show their legal advice, to that effect."
Matt Thistlethwaite:
“… I have had a read of Zali Steggall’s bill and I support the bill that she’s putting forward and I hope we get the opportunity to vote on it in the parliament over the coming months but I don’t want to raise people’s expectations too much unfortunately the way these things work in private members bills, the Government tends to control the numbers in the parliament in the house of representatives on what bills get debated and what don’t and I suspect that they will allow Zali to introduce this bill and do her speech on it but then it will disappear in to the ether and never be voted on in the parliament which is a great shame….”
Dave Sharma:
“I respect the rule of law and the decision making processes. He has gotta go through a process with this…… “
“I’m certainly open to the legislation [Zali’s bill] I’ve looked at it, I’m getting some legal advice on it, there are a few issues particularly around retrospectivity, which I’m a little concerned about from a legal perspective. But I would just make the point here that there are 163 bills that are currently before the parliament. In the life of this parliament which has only been two years we’ve passed about 311 bills, there’s 160 bills on the floor of parliament waiting to be debated, discussed, resolved, and voted upon, and they’re all priorities, it might be reform for the national disability insurance scheme, it might be the grid reliability fund to allow more renewable energy to our grid, it could be amendments to the childcare legislation to allow more support to working families with kids in childcare, these are all priorities for different communities for different sectors, and I respect that, so I’m conscious that the bill theoretically is a great idea but getting it a bill through parliament is quite a long process even with the best bill in the world, and I think the time frames we are dealing with here with PEP-11 are much shorter than that so I’m focused on the here and now and what we can do to affect and influence the process now rather than something that might sound or look good but isn’t actually going to have the material impact on the outcome.
Emma Mcbride:
“I would like to mention two things about the bill 1) whilst minister Pitt doesn’t act exploration can continue, and as Damien and others have mentioned today its 6 months since that, so I think it’s really important to know that, as many people know this is a Joint Authority and the deputy premier John Barilaro back in February voiced his opposition, the Prime Minister voiced his opposition in March and yet minister Pitt hasn’t acted so exploration can continue, this is a matter of urgency so I would encourage people in writing to their federal MP to also write to minister Pitt because he’s the one person that can make this decision with the stroke of the pen today. Minister Pitt could make this decision today. The other thing as Matt said yesterday, I am sure federal labor will support Zali’s bill but unfortunately I am not confident that the Government will bring it to the Parliament. It is the Government’s uhh.. very few private member’s bills ever brought to the Parliament, if it was brought to the Parliament of course federal labor would oppose it [I think she meant “support”] but I just caution that it is unlikely that it will be brought to the Parliament, I know the member intends to bring it in October………..”
References:
STOP PEP-11: Eastern Suburbs Virtual Town Hall Wednesday, 18 August 2021 11:00 AM (AEST) https://www.eventbrite.com.au/x/stop-pep-11-eastern-suburbs-virtual-town-hall-tickets-164453285203?utm_source=eventbrite&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reminder_attendees_event_starting_email&utm_term=cta&ref=eemaileventremind
STOP PEP-11: Central Coast Virtual Town Hall Thursday, 19 August 2021 11:00 AM (AEST) https://www.eventbrite.com.au/x/stop-pep-11-central-coast-virtual-town-hall-tickets-164455329317?utm_source=eventbrite&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reminder_attendees_48hour_email&utm_term=eventname&ref=eemaileventremind
STOP PEP-11: Northern Beaches Virtual Town Hall Tuesday, 17 August 2021 11:00 AM (AEST) https://www.eventbrite.com.au/x/stop-pep-11-northern-beaches-virtual-town-hall-tickets-164443614277?utm_source=eventbrite&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=reminder_attendees_event_starting_email&utm_term=eventname&ref=eemaileventremind
(20min delay)