Albanese is captured by fossil fuels, just like Morrison before him

They say that when someone shows you who they are, believe them. 

Just in case a phantom Federal ICAC refusing to act on corruption in media (despite a record 500,000 signature petition), abandoning any action on political “donations” laws — all while sending whistle-blowers to jail — wasn’t enough, then this month’s “Future Gas Strategy” did the trick. 

The Albanese Government is crook. Real crook. Losing its base crook. 

Not as crook as the Coalition, mind you, but Morrison’s was the most corrupt government in Australia’s 124-year history — so that’s not really the sturdiest of yardsticks. 

This presents a problem for the man from Marrickville and his merry sidekicks. An election must be held within 12 months, by May 24 at the latest, and in this the ALP are dependent on volunteers to get them over the line. 

This, of course, can become a tad tricky when you’re the self-appointed political wing of the fossil gas sector. 

It’s not so much that the ALP has jumped into bed with the gas lobby, either. This is “buying the Mosman four-bedder, installing a pool and booking the kids into Wenona” level matrimony. 

The ALP’s Labor Environment Action Network (LEAN) is “the core of the Party’s volunteer base”, it has reminded the Prime Minister in an open letter. Its members “fill the rosters for phone banking, door knocking, street stalls and handing out how to vote cards”. 

And they’re mighty pissed. 

“We have, in recent days, seen the biggest outpouring of anger from LEAN members over a Labor policy since 2013,” the group writes. 

The gas strategy “has caused distress across the membership” — with the government’s “overt support for new gas fields” the core of the problem. 

“We can’t ask our people to do this uncomfortable work unless they believe it,” the group writes. 

“This Strategy has undermined their confidence in the Party’s commitment to climate action. It has overshadowed all of the Government’s considerable achievements in accelerating the shift to renewables in electricity”. 

Indeed. 

The gas strategy has been almost universally condemned, with the exception of the Coalition (surprise) and those parts of the media most heavily funded by fossil fuels cash (erm, ditto). 

Clearly co-written by the gas sector, the document even freely admits world destroying temperature increases of 2.5 degrees are on the cards. Which, to be fair, is important because that’s what the policy is entirely consistent with. 

The strategy runs to more than 230 pages, but the upshot is the handful of mostly foreign fossil fuel giants that have for decades been robbing our nation blind have been given the official greenlight to continue doing so indefinitely — “to 2050 and beyond”, no less. 

Released under resources minister Madeleine King it opens the nation up to wholesale new gas fields. That’s despite the International Energy Agency (and many others) repeatedly warning new oil and gas projects are incompatible with keeping global temperature increases to 1.5 degrees. 

At this juncture it’s worth remembering that every single resources minister of the past 20 years has gone on to work for fossil fuels companies. 

“The Strategy makes it clear that gas will remain an important source of energy through to 2050 and beyond,” says King. 

The Albanese Government says its plan will “help domestic gas shortages” and “provide a solid base for industries like critical minerals”.  

“What it was really doing was signalling to the WA LNG export market that the federal government would not stand in the way of any future expansion,” writes veteran political journalist Laura Tingle. “It was perhaps the most egregious and dishonest bit of parochial toadying we have seen from this government”. 

(It’s hard not to draw at least a thin line between those widely publicised — entirely accurate — comments and the deeply dishonest, manufactured shitstorm now being flung at Tingle. Remember Emma Alberici on multinational tax avoidance?) 

The most breathtaking, ethically bankrupt aspect of the whole gas document is the government takes otherwise lofty aims — reducing emissions, reaching “net zero” — and weaponises them. It uses them to mask its real agenda as it gently shuffles the snake oil of vested interests down our collective throats. 

Ever hid a deworming pill in your dog’s dinner? 

We’re all Fido. 

The standout performer in a massively tight field of bullshit — the hydroponic version, matured under lights and lovingly fertilised by teams of highly overpaid, sycophantic bureaucrats — is “carbon capture and storage”, or CCS. 

There are three certainties in life: death, taxes — and that anyone spruiking CCS is a shyster. 

It’s a scam that’s been around longer than Nigerian Prince emails: a fairy tale used by coal and gas companies that emissions will somehow be economically captured and — wait for it — injected into the earth somewhere. 

Remember “clean coal” in the 1990s? That’s CCS. 

It’s never worked and never will. That’s for emissions reduction, anyway.  

As a fig leaf for fossil fuels giants to continue unheeded in making astronomical profits — its actual purpose — it’s vastly exceeded the wildest expectations of even the most cynical and gutter-wise of bejewelled gas barons. 

(The other actual purpose of CCS, which was first commercialised in early 1970s, is to extract more oil and gas. It was called “enhanced oil recovery” before a PR makeover in the 1980s — and to date, 80% to 90% of all “CCS” has actually been to extract more hydrocarbons, finds IEEFA). 

But there it is, riddled throughout King’s report. 

Not only has the government “committed $12 million over 3 years to provide regulatory and administrative certainty for offshore CCS projects” and there will be a “new Transboundary Carbon Capture and Storage (CCS) Program”. 

The government then helpfully provides two quotes to back up its magical CCS plan — one from fossil fuel giant BP and the other from fossil fuel giant Japan Australia LNG (MIMI) Pty Ltd. 

An excerpt from the Albanese Government’s gas strategy, with two helpful quotes from fossil giants justifying the scam

But wait, there’s more: we will help save the planet (there it is again) by working our magical fairyland trick on emissions from our “trade partners”. 

Fido have a damn treat. 

There is a small role for gas for “firming” renewables (alongside batteries, pumped hydro and other technology) but it’s tiny, and certainly nothing like what King and Co are making out.  

A “transition fuel, gas is not. That’s not least because, after accounting for “fugitive emissions”, it is almost as destructive as coal. Some types of heavy industry will continue to require it, where alternatives are harder. 

But this strategy is all about ripping out and shipping off as much gas as possible for other countries to do what they like with it. 

More gas is used just processing Australian LNG for export than is used by our entire manufacturing industry — and twice as much as used by Australian households. 

In all, a massive 80% of our gas is shipped overseas, thanks to years of rapacious deals with fossil fuels giants who pay next to nothing in royalties and even less in tax.  

On the east coast of Australia, where the vast majority of us live, exactly zero is quarantined for domestic use — something the Albanese Government could fix with a stroke of a pen (which, needless to say, it hasn’t). 

The upshot is, despite being one of the most gas rich nations on the planet, we pay top dollar, as we compete in the international market thanks to our giant LNG export terminals. 

The situation is so absurd we even ship some of our own gas back from overseas for domestic use. I’m not even kidding. 

To top things off, the report states: “Developing more flexible gas infrastructure is likely to be part of the solution on the east and west coast and may include infrastructure such as LNG import terminals”.  

Fido shit the couch. 

King’s credibility, if it existed, is now in irreparable tatters. But it’s not just her, it’s all those who have gone along with it. 

Which of course includes the more than half-a-dozen ALP MPs — mostly inner city and urban electorates — who publicly pretended to object to the report, without actually really doing so. 

“After the next election when they begin their post-mortem to establish how they’ve ended up in a minority government dominated by teals, I hope they look back on the stupidity of this document as a defining moment,” writes one social media user. 

Tim Buckley, director of Climate Energy Finance and one of the nation’s top energy experts, puts it: “Each time the fossil fuels industry wins, the legacy two party minority in Australia gets weakened”. 

But why? 

Partly it’s the fossil fuels “donations” (just days ago Albanese had a go at independent Monique Ryan in parliament for even mentioning it). 

But a huge part of it is media. 

As well as being among the biggest funders of both major parties, fossil fuels are also among the biggest funders of almost all commercial media outlets. 

The political gamble is that the combination of more favourable (less unfavourable, to be more accurate) media coverage, and the political advertisements bought with fossil fuel “donations” will outweigh the whole people-giving the-ALP-the-boot-and-voting-for-independents thing. 

Good luck with all that. 

The gun has been sounded on the federal election — it’s just that it’s backfired and taken off half the ALP’s face. 

Its loosely fitted mask has been vaporised entirely.