John Englart

Minister questioned on Fossil Fuel coal and gas projects in Victoria

Brunswick Greens MP Tim Read asked Climate Minister Lily D’Ambrosio about stopping the several fossil fuel expansion and infrastructure projects during the adjournment debate in State Parliament. The Minister avoided giving specific answers to the projects listed but invoked that gas projects are needed “in the context of balancing the need to ensure a transitional supply.”

Victoria has set ambitious climate targets and the Updated Gas Substitution Roadmap emphasises the need to move off gas and provides incentives for households and businesses to do so.

The projects that Tim Read questioned that Lily D’Ambrosio only answered in a very non-specific way in passing:

Keep in mind there is also the separate issue of Commonwealth approval of offshore gas exploration in Bass Strait in Commonwealth waters.

The UN Climate conference, COP28 in Dubai, recognised for the first time the need to transition away from Fossil Fuels. While Victoria is on a path of decarbonisation, it is also intent on opening new gas infrastructure, and producing brown hydrogen for Japan (hydrogen produced from brown coal) while carrying all the risks involved in carbon capture and storage (CCS) of the carbon dioxide.

(Confused about hydrogen colour coding? Hydrogen Colour spectrum explains all the colours)

CCS fails to capture all CO2 emissions, capacity expectations are seldom reached in projects, and leaks are common dependent on the specific geological situation. There is no guarantee Victoria’s Carbon Net sequestration project will be any different from other CCS projects. It is a black hole for money, a subsidy to continue fossil fuel production. See The scam of Carbon Capture and Storage: 5 video explainers

Question and answer Transcript

Tim Read to ask the Minister for Climate Action — 

(477) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Climate Action, and the action I seek is for the government to legislate a constitutional ban on new fossil fuel projects in Victoria. Last week the UN reported that all the current emissions pledges by various countries to reduce emissions, to reduce climate change, still have the world on track for 3 degrees of global warming by the end of the century – and 3 degrees of warming is a hellish future for our planet. We would suffer one-in-100-year coastal flooding events every single year. We would suffer catastrophic bushfire seasons like 2009 or 2020 every single year. We would suffer when essentials like housing and food become even more scarce and expensive, and we would suffer in places like Darwin, where the normal temperature would be over 35 degrees, or in New South Wales, which would see tropical cyclones and tropical diseases, and in Victoria, where drought would cripple food production. As the UN Secretary-General António Guterres said:

We are hurtling towards disaster, eyes wide open …

This is what is predicted if we do not do more, and that is why the Greens are demanding that the Victorian Labor government do more. This starts by Victorian Labor not adding new fossil fuels to the fire that is burning our planet. They must immediately halt the dozen or more fossil fuel projects currently under consideration. They must scrap the new offshore gas drilling projects planned for the Gippsland Basin, they must scrap the planned new gas import terminal in Geelong and they must scrap all the gas drilling projects planned for the Otway Basin, including near the Twelve Apostles. They must abandon the short-sighted and dirty coal-to-hydrogen project in the Latrobe Valley and tear up the secret deal with AGL that lets it keep burning brown coal until 2035. Labor must stop these projects and protect our climate by banning all future new mining, drilling and burning of fossil fuels and put it in our state constitution. Enough is enough: no new coal and gas in Victoria.

Answer – 20 December 2023

I thank the Member for his question relating to fossil fuel projects in Victoria.

The Victorian Government is taking strong action to accelerate the transition to renewable energy and continues to invest heavily in Victoria’s clean energy future. Victoria has set ambitious emissions reduction targets of halving emissions by 2030, a 75-80% reduction by 2035, and net zero by 2045. This is underpinned by our recent commitment to reach 95 per cent renewable electricity by 2035.

There are over two million Victorian customers currently reliant on fossil gas for cooking, heating and hot water, so the transition to more sustainable forms of energy will take time. Increased energy efficiency and electrification of households will be a key driver in reducing both the demand for fossil gas and the need for transitional supply.

The government has taken the first critical step by prohibiting gas connections to new residential buildings to prevent the expansion of fossil gas use, fossil gas emissions and expensive, long-lived gas infrastructure. 

As legacy Gippsland supply starts to decline, replacing gas use in buildings where cost-effective electric alternatives exist (such as high efficiency heat pumps and reverse cycle air-conditioners) will help maintain reliable supply for essential industrial uses while renewable gas alternatives are being developed.

The Victorian Government is also working on several fronts to bring online the necessary renewable electricity and storage capacity to replace our ageing coal fired power generators. The Structure Transition Agreement allows for scenarios where the Loy Yang A power station can close earlier than 30 June 2035, with agreement from the State, including if the power station is not needed for the reliable and secure supply of electricity in Victoria.

The Victorian Government is considering gas projects during this transitional period in the context of balancing the need to ensure a transitional supply for Victorian customers that are still reliant on gas with our goal to reduce emissions to net zero by 2045. All project proposals for gas production are subject to stringent regulatory approvals. No gas extraction activities will be permitted in the Twelve Apostles Marine Park.

The development of coal seam gas and hydraulic fracturing (fracking) is banned in Victoria.

Hon Lily D’Ambrosio MP
Minister for Climate Action
Minister for Energy and Resources
Minister for the State Electricity Commission

References;

Victoria Legislative Assembly, Adjournment Questions, 20 December, 2023 https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/parliamentary-activity/questions-database/question-details/23641

Leave a comment