ROGER COOK’S PLAN TO LET THE GAS INDUSTRY RIP OFF WEST AUSSIES
One thing we know is the more gas that foreign-owned gas companies are allowed to export, the less is reserved for us here at home. That means our gas prices go up, and the gas companies selling that gas to us make more profits.
Now, we also know that the WA Labor Government is basically bought and paid for by the gas industry.
But recently, there was a Parliamentary Inquiry into WA’s gas reservation policies.
After a year investigating, and getting lobbied by the gas industry all the way, the Parliamentary Committee still managed to make some important recommendations to help stop WA homes and businesses from getting ripped off by foreign-owned gas exporters.
Of course, the recommendations were buried in a long report in boring technical language, so they did not get a lot of media coverage.
Now, the Cook Labor Government has quietly published a response that nobody has looked at either.
Well guess what, almost all of the recommendations that would keep our gas prices low have been ignored or rejected by the Cook Government.
In fact, the it looks like the only recommendations they did accept were the ones that are beneficial to the gas industry, and deliver gas companies more profits at our expense.
Let’s have a look at a few of the better recommendations, and the government’s response translated into plain English:
Recomendation 5:
Ensure that LNG exporters provide adequate amounts of gas to WA homes and businesses.
Rejected by the Cook Government — they prefer to keep letting gas companies export nearly 6 times as much gas as they supply the domestic market. They say this provides 'certainty' for the gas industry, which is really just a way to say they can keep ripping us off.
Recommendation 8:
Legislate the domestic gas reservation policy so that it is legally enforceable and gas companies can be held to account when they fail to deliver.
Rejected by the Cook government — they prefer to be able to change the amount of gas that is reserved for West Australian homes and businesses at any time to suit the gas exporters. Putting it in legislation would make that more difficult.
Recommendation 18:
Publicly report on prices gas companies are charging in wholesale contracts, so that we can see how much these companies are selling our gas for.
Rejected by the Cook Government — they don’t want us to know what the gas companies are charging in their wholesale contracts, or how much profit they are making selling our gas.
Recommendation 19:
Consider implementing a cap on gas prices so that there is an upper limit on what gas companies can charge WA homes and businesses.
Rejected by the Cook Government – they are happy letting gas companies charge whatever they can get away with.
Recommendation 21:
Consider whether the ACCC's LNG netback price monitor should be applied in WA. (This is used in the eastern states as a measure to protect domestic gas consumers from price gouging by LNG companies.)
Rejected by the Cook Government – they are happy with no independent monitoring of prices charged by gas companies to the local market.
Recommendation 25:
Call for an ongoing inquiry into LNG exports.
Rejected by the Cook Government — which instead stated it will 'continue to engage closely with LNG exporters'.
Western Australians have been ripped off by governments working with foreign gas companies for far too long. Email your Labor MP today to demand we start getting a fair deal.
