EDITORIAL: Reliable energy crucial to all aspects of economy

It’s a symptom of the naivete that exists in some pockets of the nation that Anthony Albanese was on Monday asked how he could justify the looming approval of an extension of Woodside’s North West Shelf project.

His answer: easily.

“You can’t have renewables unless you have firming capacity. Simple as that,” Mr Albanese said.

“You don’t change the transition through warm thoughts. You do it through a concrete proposal, which is the expansion of renewables up to 82 per cent of the grid. But the way that that occurs is it needs firming capacity to occur.”

The Prime Minister was clear in his message, which has been the message of all sensible people involved in our energy debate for some time. Gas will underpin Australia’s transition to renewables. One can’t exist without the other.

“You cannot have a shift to renewables without having a confidence, because you will lose community support if people walk into this room here and flick on this switch and the lights don’t go on,” Mr Albanese said.

“We need to make sure that there is security of energy supply at the same time as we support the transition, which reduces our emissions.”

Mr Albanese’s strong support of gas will come as a relief to industry, which is waiting anxiously on a final decision from the Federal Government on the fate of Woodside’s North West Shelf proposal, which would see the life of the deposit extended until 2070.

The decision now rests with Environment Minister Murray Watt, who has promised to make a call before May 31, ending a six-year assessment process.

If, as expected, he gives the extension the green light, expect strong condemnation from the highly organised anti-gas lobby, the mission of which is to turn Australian public opinion against the fuel.

It was a frustration aired by Meg O’Neill on Tuesday, who hit out at hypocritical “zealots” who oppose gas.

“Most people hit a switch and expect the lights to come on,” the Woodside chief executive told the Australian Energy Producers conference in Brisbane.

“It’s been a fascinating journey to watch the discussion particularly amongst young people who have this very ideological, almost zealous, view of fossil fuels bad, renewables good.

“But (they) are happily plugging in their devices, ordering things from Shein and Temu, having one little thing shipped to their house without any recognition of the energy and carbon impact of their actions.”

Ms O’Neill’s irritation is understandable.

But it’s up to the industry and our leaders to counter this narrative.

The fact is that every aspect of our economy and so much of our daily lives depends on reliable affordable energy — and not just the little luxuries.

Australia is rightly committed to its net zero mission. But, as Mr Albanese said on Monday: “it’s net zero, not zero”.

Gas is an essential part of our energy transition, and that’s the message that our energy producers must prosecute.