First, it’s not true.

Second, the gas expansion the industry wants would come at the cost of other things we need.

Australia already produces an abundance of gas — far more than we could use. The only reason there’s even a remote risk of a shortfall is that we allow gas companies to export as much as they want.

More than 80 per cent of the gas produced in Australia is exported or used to liquify gas (a hugely energy intensive process) so that it can be shipped overseas.

Australia exports about 35 times more gas than would be needed to cover any potential shortfall of supply on the east coast in coming years.

And the gas giants use more gas each year to liquify gas for export than the gas used by Australia’s entire manufacturing industry.

Government could ensure supply at home by requiring gas companies to set aside gas to meet domestic needs, using laws and policies already in place.

Instead, gas companies want to develop new, expensive gas for the domestic market so they can sell gas that’s cheaper to extract overseas.

They are using the scare campaign about lights going out at home to pressure government into greenlighting massive new projects which are really about expanding exports.

What the industry and its advocates don’t say is that the gas expansion will come at the cost of other essential infrastructure.

Every time the government approves new gas (or coal) expansions, it’s giving the go-ahead to projects that soak up labour and equipment, taking resources away from dwellings, roads and railways.

Some $41 billion worth of new fossil fuel projects are gobbling up the construction supply chain. The government estimates that at least 21,000 construction jobs will be needed for all the resource and energy projects currently at the “committed” stage of development. This amounts to 18% of Australia’s current Heavy and Civil Engineering Construction workforce.

So, the fossil fuel expansion is making it harder to upgrade necessary infrastructure and to build the homes and public transport we desperately need.

Economists call this opportunity cost.

Let’s also not forget the biggest cost of gas industry expansion — the cost of climate catastrophe if the world fails to phase out fossil fuels.

Approving new fossil fuel projects is at odds with advice from climate scientists and the International Energy Agency which makes it clear that to reach net zero emissions by mid-century and limit catastrophic climate change there should be no new oil, coal or gas projects built.

To make matters worse, governments and taxpayers are subsidising the fossil fuel producers to the tune of $14.5 billion a year and counting.

And we give much of the gas away for free.

Australia has ten facilities that export gas as liquified natural gas (LNG). Six of them — four of the five operating in Western Australia, along with both of the Northern Territory’s facilities — pay no royalties, either state or federal.

Gas companies were meant to pay Petroleum Resources Rent Tax instead, but the tax is so poorly designed that gas giants have paid very little. The Australian Government collects more money from students repaying their HECS debt than it does from gas companies paying PRRT. This is despite massively expanding the amount of Australia’s gas the industry exploits and profits exploding after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

In summary, Australia is allowing multinational companies to extract a publicly owned resource without making them reserve enough for domestic use; for the most part, we’re giving the resource away for free; and now the industry and its cheer squad want to gaslight us into doing more of the same.