So says Labor legend Jenny George. The Australian.
Regular warnings about gas shortages in Victoria are troubling. Despite its opposition to fossil fuels and having the highest renewables targets, Victoria is considering importing gas, underwritten by the public, at an estimated cost upwards of $20 a gigajoule. It makes no sense.
Market failure is the consequence of the Gillard government’s rejection of a gas reservation scheme in 2012. Both parties share responsibility for allowing a cartel of energy companies to control our natural gas supplies and set the price of gas, now about $15 a gigajoule. Increased east coast production hasn’t helped the domestic market. Codes of conduct to deal with supply shortages, as Labor proposes, are stopgap measures that won’t reverse these trends.
