Source: Australian Mines and Metals Association – AMMA
AREEA has welcomed the Federal Government’s focus on improving domestic gas supply and affordability, while cautioning that the success of the newly announced gas reservation scheme will depend on careful design and investment certainty.
Chief Executive Steve Knott AM said ensuring Australian households and businesses have access to reliable and affordable gas is an important public policy objective, particularly with gas playing a critical and growing role in firming electricity supply and supporting major industrial users.
“Resources and energy employers recognise the importance of domestic energy security and support measures that genuinely improve supply outcomes for Australian users,” Mr Knott said.
“However, gas reservation schemes are not cost-free. If poorly designed or implemented without regard to commercial realities, they risk undermining investment confidence, delaying new supply and ultimately worsening the very shortages they seek to address.”
AREEA emphasised that Australia’s gas sector is capital-intensive, globally competitive and reliant on long-term investment decisions made decades in advance.
Policy stability and regulatory certainty are essential to ensuring continued development of new gas projects.
“Any reservation mechanism must be predictable, transparent and limited to new supply, with clear rules that respect existing contractual commitments,” Mr Knott said.
“Investors need confidence that Australia remains a reliable and competitive destination for energy investment. Without that confidence, new projects – and the jobs, royalties and domestic supply they deliver – simply will not proceed.”
AREEA also noted that domestic gas affordability challenges are driven by a range of factors, including declining legacy fields, regulatory delays, infrastructure constraints and increasing demand for gas-fired firming.
“Reservation alone will not solve Australia’s gas challenges,” Mr Knott said.
“A durable solution requires timely project approvals, regulatory efficiency, infrastructure investment and policies that encourage new supply to come online. Without new supply, there is nothing to reserve.”
AREEA called on the Government to engage closely with industry as the details of the scheme are developed, to ensure the policy supports domestic supply objectives while maintaining Australia’s competitiveness as a global energy producer.
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