APPEA: resource nationalism not in the best interest of Australia

A campaign launched by the Australian Workers Union calling for gas subsidies for chosen industrial sectors is nothing more than protectionism dressed up as energy policy, APPEA said in a statement.

Only new gas supplies, not new government interventions, will put downward pressure on prices and drive sustainable employment opportunities for AWU members, according to APPEA.

The AWU’s simplistic notion that ‘Aussie gas should be cheap for Aussies’ reflects a populist form of ‘resources nationalism’ that in defiance of Australia’s experience and best interests. The reality is this that reserving gas is a ruse and evidence showing the consequences of gas reservation to be both negative and profound is consistent and mounting, the statement says.

APPEA Chief Executive David Byers said, “The international experience clearly offers lessons for Australian policy-makers, but not the kind described by those calling for gas reservation. We should also heed the lessons of crude oil pricing in Australia, which saw import parity pricing introduced back in 1978 and the previous ‘local pricing’ policy abandoned due to the fact it was creating an incentive for exploration outside Australia; it failed to maximise the true value of local crude or the tax revenues produced; and the policy created a perverse incentive for excessive local oil consumption.”

He added, “The simple fact is that Australia’s interests are best served by access to open and competitive markets. This is as true for natural gas as it is for iron ore, wheat, wool, and wine.”

“The fact that natural gas is now Australia’s third largest export sector is something Australians should celebrate, and self-serving calls to undermine one of the economy’s shining lights should be ignored and condemned,” concludes Byers.

Press Release, September 29, 2014; Image: APLNG