It's not about policy, it's about the deal struck with the...

It's not about policy, it's about the deal struck with the companies. The governments (state and federal) would be breaking commercial contracts.

Back when the projects were being planned, the governments wanted the development, the jobs, the tax and the royalty streams. They wanted them badly, and they were not (apparently) especially interested in domestic supply. We are now getting what they signed up for. People should be blaming the politicians for this mess, not the companies.

People also naively think that it is now just a simple matter of the companies opening a valve and the gas flows into the domestic supply. Unfortunately there is also the small matter of a domestic gas processing plant, a custody transfer station, and a connecting pipeline.

So from where we stand now, it would take a considerable investment and a good 3 to 4 years to get the extra gas supply out of Queensland. LNG importation will require an unloading terminal, regasification plant, and connecting pipeline - perhaps 2 to 3 years to implement. These are best case time-frames. There is also the issue of the current scramble to do similar things around the world because of supply insecurity from Russia. We might have to get in line.

This is what happens when politicians fail to plan.