If you are ever asked to point to one simple thing, just one, that demonstrates the total incompetence of our political and bureaucratic class and that anyone can get their heads around, just point to this single example.
You have to seriously question the competence, even the sanity of these people when Australia, as the worlds largest EXPORTER of liquid natural gas with the worlds largest reserves, is about to expand the storage for IMPORTED liquid natural gas at Port Kembla to supply NSW and Victoria. Forget about the expansion. Why do we have a storage facility for importing at all?
I know what you’re thinking. How? Why?
In fact Australia has overtaken Qatar as the world’s top exporter of LNG, shipping 77.5 million tonnes in 2019 and Australia has something like 3.9 billion cubic metres of reserves.
How did this happen? Why did this happen? Simple.
When this same bureaucrat and political class negotiated licences for the rent seekers to come in and exploit our gas reserves, they didn’t allow for a domestic reserve. That is, we need X amount per year, indexed for domestic consumption and you can export the rest.
The result is that we have to buy our gas on the world market and of course pay the going rate.
Brilliant…Another masterstroke..
But wait…..It gets worse. Last month the Australian Energy Market Operator warned that Australia could face winter shortages by 2024.
Got that!!
The worlds biggest exporter with the worlds biggest reserves and yet we may have to have the begging bowl out in 2024.
Everyone comfortable with that??
Does anyone sitting around the cabinet table ever stop and say: “..Hang on…Just a minute. There is something seriously wrong with this…”
Yep Jim, we’re reading, but stunned into silence.
It’s hard to fathom what forces or bent reasoning allowed this to happen.
Sometimes I think these ‘influencers’ – bureaucrats and pollies – have a perverse positivity towards others while unconsciously harbouring an internal resentment of our own. Whether to ‘stick it to the man’ or just simple power contrariness or not, I don’t know.
Maybe it’s not so ‘unconscious’.
Logic eludes them.