The Morrison Government legacy gas handouts

In early 2020 the Morrison Government stacked their “covid-recovery commission” with gas executives who advised them to subsidise the gas industry. So we started tracking how much money Angus Taylor and the Morrison Government were promising to polluting gas projects. 

What we found 

Between 2020 and 2022 the Morrison Government made 25 commitments subsidising the gas industry totalling over $2 billion dollars. 

These projects were designed to open up massive new gas basins, fast-track destructive gas projects and fund unproven technology that the gas industry likes to use to clean up its image like unproven “carbon capture and storage”. 

Funding announcements included: 

• • $300 million for Darwin LNG 
  • $263 million for carbon capture and storage projects 
  • $200 million for gas-fed petrochemical plans in Darwin Harbour 
  • $173 million for roads in the Northern Territory to provide access to the Beetaloo Basin
  • $60 million for Cooper and Adavale Basins

TOTAL MORRISON GAS HANDOUTS: $2.5 billion. 

This research was covered in the Guardian. 

What Labor can do:

There’s an opportunity in the upcoming budget for the Albanese Government to scrap the Morrison Government’s legacy gas subsidies that haven’t been spent yet.