Gas Is a gamble — And WA Just doubled down

Premier Roger Cook “Gas is good, like or not.” Says. This is a descriptive explanation-especially as WoodSide’s largest gas project in Australia, the North West Shelf, approved for a life extension until 2070. This decision will remain billions of gas -related investments for decades by shaping the economic orbit of Western Australia after long after passing through fossil fuels.

The message is open: Wa doubles in gas. However, for many Western Australians, this is starting to feel like a high -risk gambling with a small number of winners. It may be good for energy giants and shareholders, but risks for household peoples, small enterprises and long -term prosperity of the state are increasing.

We were here before. When the mining explosion collapsed around 2014, it was not limited to Ağrı Pilbara or Goldfields. Perth’s housing market fell, flight flights disappeared, and government revenues fell from a cliff. The entire economy was interested in global commodities – and the growth of WA increased when prices fell.

Now, the same model is repeated. Wa a gas heavy weight – last year exports 47 million tons of LNG and supplies about 60 percent of Australian gas. Nevertheless, despite its wide reserves and 15 percent internal booking policy, local households are still not in local famine, but with higher gas prices with exposure to international markets.

Since 2020, wholesale gas prices in WA have doubled, and consumers are now facing some of the highest retail gas prices in the country. If the world’s richest newspaper is supported by one of the richest judicial regions with a reservation, the system does not clearly work in the public interest if it may not be able to offer affordable gas to its people. This is a prominent contradiction: the large local supply, a legal carving output, and the increasing costs for the people designed by politics to protect.

International energy markets are not less, but more variable. Global demand is softened, supply is increasing, and price fluctuations caused by conflict or speculation become norm. While lock buyers like Japan withdraw LNG imports, they sell about half of the gas we sell, and your request is a sign like once. China’s LNG imports have been significantly fluctuated since 2020.

And still, instead of planning a diversified future, WA strengthens its confidence in gaza. The approval of the North West Shelf extension by 2070 is not only a regulatory tick – a signal for markets, governments and financial institutions that plan to stay in the gas game for long distance. This decision will lead capital, infrastructure and political energy to support a sector that faces deep structural risks from the basic economy, not just climatic restrictions.

The danger is not just the environment. Economic. Every new dollar -related dollar, clean energy production, critical mineral processing, green hydrogen, green ammonia or green iron is a dollar that does not invest in developing industries. Other states and countries provide competitive advantage in renewable energy and advanced production, while WA supports an industry that has lost its certainty and market certainty.

This is the real opportunity. WA has what needs to lead in the clean economy-so -cere, labor, minerals, first-class ports and skilled workers. However, for a very long time, consecutive governments have given priority to resource exports in creating sovereignty capability. The result is a prone economy, vulnerable to global shocks, and it is an increasingly connection with where the world is going.