The more gas we export, the more it costs Australians in utility prices

Last Thursday, Queensland Treasurer, David Janetzki posted a screenshot on social media from the Financial Review boasting about Queensland gas industry: “The facts speak for themselves, we’re doing the heavy lifting”.

Mr Janetzki followed this up by commenting under his post that “Queensland is a gas state. The ACCC forecasts that Queensland will produce 87% of all gas produced on the east coast in 2027. That will increase to 96% by 2037. The facts do speak for themselves.”

Unfortunately for the Queensland Treasurer the facts on gas are all too clear. Around 80% of all Australian gas is exported, and more gas is used each year by gas companies to turn natural gas into LNG than is used by the entire Australian manufacturing industry.

Yes, production is increasing, but that production is overwhelmingly for exports. And while he might like to talk about “heavy lifting” the thing most being lifted by all these gas exports is the price Australians are paying:

As Australia’s exports of gas have risen over the past 15 years since the opening of the Gladstone LNG terminal, the price paid for gas by Australians has soared above inflation.

The impact of local gas prices being linked with the world price has been most starkly shown since the Russian invasion of Ukraine. Since the end of 2021, Australian overall inflation has risen 17%, but gas prices paid by households has gone up 36%.

The price of electricity also rose largely in line with gas prices and only the subsidies by the Australian and state governments have kept those prices from rising at much the same rate in the past three years.

The price of gas has also smashed the Australian manufacturing industry – the cost of gas for manufacturing is now 50% more than it was before the invasion of Ukraine.

The Queensland gas industry has also lifted greenhouse gas emissions. As the most recent update of Australia’s greenhouse gas emissions notes, stationary energy emissions “have increased 17.7% or 14.4 Mt CO2-e driven, in particular, by continued growth in the production and export of LNG”, and that fugitive emissions “notably increased from 2015 driven by the expansion of onshore and offshore petroleum projects to support growth in the LNG exports industry.”

So yes, the Queensland gas industry is doing heavy lifting – lifting of gas and electricity prices, lifting the cost of manufacturing and lifting greenhouse gas emissions.

And all the while paying less tax on average than nurses.