Senator ADAMS (4:55 PM) —As a Western Australian senator I too would like to join my colleagues in describing how important the LNG industry is to Western Australia. As most of you know, it is predominantly off the north-west of Western Australia. It is a new generation resource of utmost importance to the Australian economy and we must do everything we can to help it be a profitable industry to ensure the development of new projects to provide a consistent stream of revenue and employment.

Today work has started on the $43 billion Gorgon gas project. This development of Australia’s largest resource project formally started today with a ground breaking ceremony at Barrow Island. The operation is tipped to create more than 10,000 direct and indirect jobs, and more than $33 billion is expected to be spent on local goods and services, which is wonderful news for the northern part of Western Australia. The ground breaking ceremony was held near where the three liquefied natural gas trains will run and the domestic gas plant and the carbon dioxide plant will be built. The greater Gorgon area is estimated to have 40 trillion cubic feet of natural gas resources and is well positioned to meet the growing demand for natural gas in the Asia-Pacific region.

Australia’s natural gas industry is more than one of our best economic resources; it is also a much cleaner energy source than coal. By substituting coal in China and in India with Australia’s natural gas we can play a significant role in helping cut global emissions. Projects which are currently under way will result in 180 million tonnes of global emissions being avoided each year. This equates to removing 40 million cars from the roads, more than three times the number of passenger cars in Australia. These projects are massive. They will create more than 50,000 jobs; 40,000 of these will be in the construction phase and 10,000 will be permanent. The Australian government will get more than $11 billion each year in tax revenues. In fact, the average two-train LNG project delivers a net present value in tax revenues of $40 billion over 25 years. These revenues signify the size of these resources of natural gas. The LNG projects in northern Australia represents the new player our nation has become in the global energy market. These cleaner energy resources are a key part of our transition to a lower carbon economy which also extends to the overseas buyers of our natural gas.

Because Australian natural gas will have such a significant impact on reducing global emissions from our region it should be treated accordingly and recognised by being elevated to the top tier of the proposed emissions-intensive trade-exposed assistance program. The coalition’s amendment will determine in the regulations that the production of liquefied natural gas is classified a highly emissions-intensive trade-exposed activity. LNG should not be classified as a moderately intensive EITE as is currently proposed. It should be elevated to the top tier. Minister, I ask: why is Australian LNG not classified in the top tier; for example, the 94.5 per cent category? It appears strange that LNG is less protected than aluminium or cement.