The Australian energy minister, Angus Taylor, has criticised “activists” for opposing new oil and gas development in the Beetaloo Basin, declaring European nations are now regretting not pursuing a “gas-fired recovery”.
After the United States banned Russian oil imports in response to Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine, and the United Kingdom said it would phase them out by year’s end, Taylor told Sky News Australia that Australia had been correct to continue expanding fossil fuel development.
Noting there had been an underinvestment in new supply of oil and gas around the world, Taylor said Australia had “kept our foot on the accelerator”.
“We’re investing in new supply for gas and oil in places like the Beetaloo Basin, where there is enormous potential – we’ve kept our foot on the accelerator here in Australia because we know that is the right thing,” Taylor said on Wednesday.
“I tell you what, I bet a number of countries in Europe right now wish they’d had a gas-fired recovery.”
Taylor said developing the Beetaloo would put “Australia back to a position of having more upstream oil as we traditionally had from the Bass Strait”.
“You know, there’s been a lot of people trying to block the Beetaloo Basin from being developed … we’ve had lots of activists trying to stop it. They are getting in the way of a sensible pathway for energy which delivers affordable reliable energy as we bring our emissions down.”
Because of the climate risks associated with the development, last year more than 60 leading climate scientists issued a dire warning over the plan to frack the Beetaloo Basin, saying it must be halted if the Northern Territory government cannot meet a promise to fully offset emissions.
Days of driving rain has resulted in catastrophic floods in the south-east of Queensland, northern New South Wales and in Sydney suburbs.
The current disaster has reopened a national debate about the adequacy of Australia’s climate policies and the level of resourcing committed to mitigation and adaptation, given scientists have warned repeatedly some of the effects of climate change are now likely irreversible. During a visit to the disaster zone in the north of NSW on Wednesday, Scott Morrison declared a national emergency.
Last year, the world’s leading energy organisation warned that exploitation and development of new oil and gas fields must stop, and no new coal-fired power stations can be built if the world is to stay within safe limits of global heating and meet the goal of net zero emissions by 2050.
The latest assessment from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, released only last week, warned of “cascading, compounding and aggregate impacts on cities, settlements, infrastructure, supply-chains and services due to wildfires, floods, droughts, heatwaves, storms and sea level rise”.
As flood waters surged in south-east Queensland and down the coast of NSW, the IPCC noted the socio-economic costs arising from climate variability and change were continuing to increase. “Extreme heat has led to excess deaths and increased rates of many illnesses.” It said nuisance and “extreme coastal flooding” had increased due to sea level rise, high tides and storm surges”.
The Climate Council has also called on the Morrison government and other political parties to acknowledge the climate crisis is driving worsening disasters, including the current “megafloods”.
Oil prices had already risen sharply before Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, but the geo-strategic tensions has created additional price shocks for key commodities. The Reserve Bank governor, Philip Lowe, told a business summit on Wednesday the price of gas in Europe had doubled since the start of February, and oil prices were up by 40% as were thermal coal prices.
Taylor was asked on Wednesday whether Australia would join the boycott of Russian oil by the United States and the United Kingdom.
He said “practically speaking” Australia was already part of the boycott because of the purchasing decisions by global oil giants. He said only 1.5% of Australia’s crude oil stocks came from Russia, so the boycott would not have a significant impact on Australian bowser prices.
The government has been criticised for failing to secure a substantial local standby supply of fuel to ensure continuity of consumer and business activity during global crises. But Taylor insisted Australia had sufficient local fuel reserves. He said Australia had 89 days of stock “according to the definition we use”.
