Australia is in a path to surpass Qatar to become the world's biggest supplier of liquefied natural gas by this time next year, but meanwhile many businesses could suffer from a shortage of gas for domestic electricity production.
The AGE indicates that because of the short-sightedness of political leaders, entire LNG output is locked-up in long term LNG export contracts, and now Australia is faced with an absurd situation where there is real consideration about importing gas for domestic use.
It also criticises political leaders who are more concerned with scoring political points than finding a way to encourage investment in alternatives to fossil fuels and provide a concrete example: Tony Abbott put a wrecking ball through just about every initiative designed to encourage the renewable energy sector. The result is the investment in renewables fled and, for the federal government, the chickens have finally come home to roost.
The Sunday Age points out that certainty will play a key role in encouraging investments in the energy market and that certainty can be provided by bipartisan climate policies that incorporates a price on carbon.
