The “Gas-fired robbery” report, released Monday, finds Western Australia receives only a tiny fraction of its revenue from an industry that generated $27bn in WA exports last year. By contrast, the iron-ore industry tipped $7.8bn into the 2019/20 budget, more than 18 times as much as gas. The note may not be apparent to a layperson, but the meaning is plain to an accountant: free gas forever from Australia. Most have break-even costs under $10 and are now shipping roughly half the gas at $30 plus to Asia. In all of my days studying the history of costs and benefits of extractive industries, Morrison’s gas cartel is the worst behaved I have ever seen.

Source: The Guardian January 17, 2022 04:57 UTC