Labor's Betrayal; 'Future Gas Strategy' = No Future
Extinction Rebellion Australia, 11 May 2024
On Friday a coalition of climate groups including Extinction Rebellion and Rise Up protested outside MPs' offices around Australia in response to Labor's 'Future Gas Strategy'.
Friday's actions came on the final day of Rise Up's 12 days of action. Sixty communities across the country participated, calling on the Federal Government to take action to tackle climate change and keep coal and gas in the ground. The photo above shows protesters outside Bill Shorten's office in Maribrynong, Victoria.
The Labor Government’s ‘future gas strategy’, was announced by Resources Minister Madeleine King on Thursday and blindsided climate activists and even Labor party members with its disregard for the science and for the safety of all of us.
Experts and politicians around Australia have condemned the strategy, while the International Energy Agency has stated that no new coal and gas projects can be approved if the world is to meet its Paris Agreement Target of limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees above pre-industrial levels. Global heating is already making itself felt, with March being recorded as the 10th consecutive month of record-high temperatures.
A BBC article 'Australia backs gas beyond 2050 despite climate fears' notes that the Albanese government argues an increase in both the production and exploration of the fossil fuel is needed for Australia's domestic energy supply as it tracks towards its targets of delivering 82% renewable energy to the grid by 2030, and achieving net zero emissions by 2050.
Currently gas accounts for 27% of the country's existing energy needs. But the bulk of what is produced domestically is exported to countries such as China, Japan, and South Korea.
Prof Bill Hare, chief executive of Climate Analytics and author of numerous UN climate change reports told the BBC, "Fossil gas is not a transition fuel. It’s one of the main contributors to global warming and has been the largest source of increases of CO2 [emissions] over the last decade."
In an article in Crikey.com 'Paying to be exploited: Labor has now fully succumbed to the fossil fuel industry' Bernard Keane said:"This isn’t just an empty announcement to win seats in Western Australia and Queensland. The gas giants won’t have to explore for new gas fields themselves. Santos, Woodside, Origin, Chevron, BP and Shell won’t have to spend a cent looking for new deposits — you’ll be paying for it instead.
"Yesterday, the prime minister and Resources Minister Madeleine King announced they were handing half a billion dollars over a decade to Geoscience Australia “to find new deposits of minerals and sources of energy to help build a Future Made in Australia”. The mapping will be both onshore and offshore, “to deliver data, maps and other tools for use by the resources industry that will point the way to new discoveries”.
Keane also pointed out that "For fossil fuel companies, it’s now the perfect rort, in every way: they have their mapping done for free, so they can extract gas on which they pay minimal tax (they get to dictate what rate of tax they think they should pay), while their political operatives in government pass laws to prevent climate protests and use police as a militia for polluters."
On the day following the announcement, XR and other climate groups contributing to Rise Up visited MPs in a big day of actions.
Protestors delivered a letter of demand to their MP to express their outrage at Labor for committing to a policy which will ensure that we are facing a worsening climate crisis. Banners and signs expressed opposition and anger at Labor’s betrayal of its promises to meet emissions targets at the last election.
Spokesperson for the group Brenda Tait said:
"The Future Gas strategy released yesterday is a total betrayal by the Albanese government, caving in to gas lobby pressure. Labor needed to produce a plan to protect us but instead they are exposing us to an uncertain and dangerous future. They promised to act meaningfully on climate, but today’s announcement backs in decades more fossil fuel extraction, including support for new gas projects.
"This strategy reads like it was written by Woodside and Santos, not by a government that claims to want to do something about climate change. The science is clear - we need to move away from fossil fuels like gas, not lock in further exploitation for decades to come."
Friday's actions came on the final day of Rise Up - 12 days of action. 60 communities across the country participated, calling on the Federal Government to take action to tackle climate change and keep coal and gas in the ground.
You better believe we’ll be back! Australia deserves better than governments in bed with fossil fuels.