Australia is one of the world’s largest producers of gas, yet Australians are routinely told that the country is about to run out of gas for domestic use.

A key moment each year for the propagation of Australia’s gas shortage myth is the release of the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO)’s Gas Statement of Opportunities (GSOO).

With the 2025 GSOO scheduled to be released in March, The Australia Institute has analysed coverage of the 2024 GSOO using a new methodology – the “scare scale”.

We find that of the three “scariest” articles covering GSOO in 2024, two were in News Corporation newspapers and one was published in The Australian Financial Review.

Journalism in general is always tilted towards the scary headline. Claims of shortages and crises are deemed newsworthy, even if overblown. The media is entitled to report the eye-catching phrases and ambitious claims in the executive summary of GSOO – in fact, it would be surprising if they did otherwise – but the analysis should not stop there.

A healthy media would subject the statement to more rigorous scrutiny, asking questions about its purpose, its reliability, and its self-disclosed caveats. A healthy media would question why the citizens of a large producer of gas like Australia are routinely told that they are about to run out.