Gas industry has its claws in the recovery commission

Commenting on reports that gas supply will be a priority of the NCCC, Dan Gocher, Director of Climate and Environment, ACCR, said:

“This isn’t a recovery coordination commission, it is a gas coordination commission. Its sole purpose is to entrench Australia’s dependence on fossil fuels for the indefinite future.”

“Despite governments, corporations and civil society organisations around the world calling for stimulus that addresses both economic recovery and climate change, Australia is once again fixated on fossil fuels.”

“This is predatory behaviour from the gas industry. They are opportunistically using the Covid-19 crisis to push through uneconomic, polluting plans dependent on taxpayer subsidies, which until the pandemic hit were beyond their wildest dreams.”

“Various members of the NCCC and Manufacturing Taskforce stand to personally benefit from a focus on increasing gas supply and/or the development of new pipelines ^[1].”

“Nev Power and Angus Taylor are flogging a dead horse with the argument that gas is a transition fuel. This is simply no longer the case. Even the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) has confirmed that we do not need more gas in order to transition to a renewables-dominated grid. The fact is that Nev and others on the Commission stand to benefit from delays to transition. Their conflicts of interest are not being properly managed.”

“The NCCC and our political class seem to have forgotten that just a few months ago we were in the grip of deadly, climate change-related bushfires.The climate crisis is primarily caused by burning fossil fuels, it will not be solved by burning more fossil fuels.”

Contact: Dan Gocher | dan@accr.org.au | +61 410 550 337