[hr]Writtinby Rick Wilkinson[hr]
PPEA’s industry data figures for the first quarter of 2013 show natural gas companies have now signed 4017 land access agreements with Queensland landholders since 2011, and their contributions to regional community projects and organisations in the state have topped $100 million.
These figures also underline how a great deal can be achieved through open, transparent and informative negotiation based on mutual respect and trust.
Queensland is showing that agriculture and industry can co-exist to each other’s mutual benefit. Many of the state’s farmers now enjoy land access payments, new infrastructure and drought-proofing from inexpensive treated water from coal seam gas operations.
Meanwhile, Queensland’s gas industry workforce continues to grow. From June 2012 to the end of the year the state’s gas industry added more than 8000 people to its workforce as significant progress is made on liquefied natural gas (LNG) projects worth more than $60 billion.
It is believed that the Queensland gas industry (including contractors) has created about 30,000 jobs, but there are fewer than 300 such jobs in NSW. The NSW Government continues to ignore economic opportunity, jobs and the crucial need for a safe and secure energy supply.
The state’s natural gas industry continues to languish amid uncertain regulation. The NSW Government first implemented a moratorium on natural gas development that lasted 15 months. This was followed by a Strategic Regional Land Use Policy introduced after widespread consultation over the period of the moratorium.
Without any warning or consultation, the industry now faces two-kilometre buffer zones. The introduction of these blanket ‘no-go’ zones is not based on evidence. These shifting goal posts and the red-tape laden decision-making process ignore science and the commendable environmental record of an industry that has been operating in Australia for more than 40 years.
The fact that NSW’s primary source of natural gas has safely operated in western Sydney for more than a decade has somehow been lost on the state’s policymakers.
Only six jobs were created in the NSW gas industry workforce in 2012, bringing the total to just 326 employees. But since then, some NSW gas projects have been abandoned or put on hold and jobs have actually been lost.
Just four land access agreements were signed in NSW during the first quarter of 2013, bringing the total to 285. No new natural gas production wells were commissioned in 2013 in NSW. NSW continues to import 95 per cent of its natural gas from other states. The state’s long-term gas supply contracts are due to expire over a two-year period, starting next year. This looming gas supply shortfall has the potential to hurt both businesses and households.
The state’s failure to respond to increasing gas demand will push up energy prices, undermine energy security, cost jobs and curtail economic opportunity.
People in NSW only need to look north of the Tweed to see how things can be done. Queensland is getting on with the job of safely developing natural gas from coal seams and creating jobs.
Rural and regional communities are thriving on the back of a stable natural gas industry and kids who would normally leave country towns for the city are staying because they can secure solid, well paid employment.
The reason is simple. It’s because governments, both past and present, along with community leaders have seen beyond the hyperbole and misinformation. The experience stands in stark contrast to NSW where short-sighted policymaking creates more uncertainty for industry and all stakeholders.
The state’s failure to respond to increasing gas demand will push up energy prices, undermine energy security cost jobs and curtail economic opportunity.
[hr]
Add Comment