We already have energy independence and Australia extracts more gas than it needs to meet domestic demand. Indeed three-quarters is exported as LNG
The Morrison government has been promising a “gas-fired recovery” from the pandemic since not long after lockdowns began in early 2020. Over the past 18 months it has announced nearly $1bn in funding for gas projects.
But this has done almost nothing to aid the country’s recovery from the Covid recession for an obvious reason – gas power plants, pipelines and basins take years to develop and build. Further, as Greg Jericho has pointed out, the gas industry employs very few people.