BIG NEW GAS, BIG MISTAKE: the government’s plans for massive gas expansion would cook the future, blow Australia's commitment to the Paris Agreement, and wreck forests, land, water and communities

The Federal government’s claim for a ‘gas fired recovery’ has centred on the need for gas as transition to a renewable future. But this description of ‘the gas fired recovery’ hides the federal government’s orchestration and extensive support for a massive expansion of gas exports from Australia, particularly in Northern Australia.

The scale of this proposed expansion, once appreciated, boggles the mind.

Quietly, the federal government has been putting together the institutional and financial pieces for this staggering gas expansion by global corporations. 

Under the rubric of the Federal Government’s ‘the five basins’ plan and the ‘Technology Investment Roadmap’, new tax funded and/or supported gas projects in

• WA, (the Burrup Peninsula, the Perth Basin)  
• NT (Beetaloo Basin, Barossa), 
• Queensland (Galilee and Bowen Basin) and 
• NSW (Gunnedah Basin)

will produce annual greenhouse gas emissions equivalent to the emissions of scores of coal-fired power stations, potentially four times Australia’s current emissions and destructive impacts on land and water.  This will have devastating impacts on the environment, damage communities, and breach international commitments.

This is at the time when not only is the UN Secretary General calling for far greater emission cuts from governments before the Glasgow Climate Change Conference, and when key governments are doubling commitments to cut emissions,  but when large scale renewable alternatives are available, are cheaper than fossil fuels and are spreading rapidly. Indeed, these immense gas projects, far from contributing to a transition to a sustainable world, will also undermine the take up of renewables both domestically and internationally.  

While these gas projects are physically distant from most of us, they are made possible by decisions that our local federal representatives make in our crucial federal electorates (in Higgins, Goldstein, Kooyong, North Sydney, Hughes) – our actions matter. We need to understand the significance of those decisions, and to use our collective democratic power to stop them.

Why this Action Webinar

Coming three days before the School Student Climate Strike, there are two parts to the webinar:

1. Uncovering the scale and impact of the gas plan and campaigns of the gas plans
2. A call to action on the night and following the webinar. 

Moderator

Esther Abrams will moderate the webinar. Esther has had lead roles at Australian Environmental Grantmakers Network, Changemakers Australia, and was the inaugural CEO at the Moreland Energy Foundation.

Readings

Over the next few weeks, we will be adding readings on the Federal Government’s plans for massive gas expansion at http://pecan.org.au/readings/.  Please keep an eye on it.

Contact

• Port Phillip Emergency Climate Action Network (PECAN)and Peter Moraitis: pecan.org.au@gmail.com, 0409 347 388, 
• Kooyong Climate Change Alliance,(KCCA),Lighter Footprints, Leigh Naunton: stopadanikooyong@gmail.com, 0425 722 272
• Bayside Climate Crisis Action Group (BCCAG)- Rob Davis, ozrdavis@gmail.com, 0438068020