Energy
prices and energy security have been in the news for many months now. While this issue is very complex, the debate
about causes and solutions has been marred by erroneous claims and
blame-shifting by politicians. This has
done little to enlighten the electorate or solve the problems the nation
faces.
The security/price
problem exists because successive governments from both major parties have
failed to understand the impact of the technological change and to plan
properly for the future.
Added to this is the failure, particularly by
the Federal Government, to understand community opposition to coal seam gas
(CSG) mining and fracking and the threats this industry poses to agriculture,
clean water, the natural environment and
human health. Communities in the
NSW Northern Rivers and elsewhere have learnt from overseas and Queensland just
how invasive and damaging this industry is.
The
Federal Government’s concern about domestic gas availability and price have led
to it planning to restrict exports when there is a local shortage. It has also called on states such as NSW and
Victoria to open up their states to CSG and unconventional gas mining.
Unsurprisingly
the export restriction plan has annoyed the extremely profitable companies
exporting huge quantities of Australian gas. One of
their spokespersons, former federal politician Ian Macfarlane, now Queensland
Resources Council CEO, supports the government’s call to remove bans on CSG and
unconventional gas mining in NSW and Victoria.
That gas could then be used domestically without affecting the
industry’s exports. Furthermore
Macfarlane suggested states not lifting bans should be penalised by getting a
smaller GST share.
Lock the
Gate’s National Coordinator, Carmel Flint, said this was an extraordinary
attempt by the mining and resource sector to undermine the “democratic
distribution of our taxes”. She also
pointed out that sixty percent of large energy and resource companies pay no
corporate tax in Australia and that it was disgraceful that they should attempt
to influence how taxes were spent in order to promote their industry.
Whatever
the Federal Government and the big mining companies want, opposition to CSG and
unconventional gas mining won’t go away.
-
Leonie Blain
This article was originally published in the VOICES FOR THE EARTH column in The Daily Examiner on July 24, 2017.
