According to a recent report, Australia has sent overseas enough gas in recent years to meet its domestic needs for the next twenty years. This comes amidst soaring local prices and ongoing concerns about potential shortages.

The Australia Institute’s study reveals that while the nation’s cheaper gas resources are predominantly shipped abroad, the gas kept for local use tends to be harder to extract and environmentally harmful, resulting in higher costs.

Over the last five years, the report highlights that the federal government has allowed the export of gas volumes equivalent to 22 years of Australia’s entire domestic consumption.

Moreover, the findings suggest that the gas industry consumes more gas to prepare for export than is used domestically across power generation, manufacturing, and household consumption.

In the fiscal year 2023-2024, a striking 83 percent of Australia’s natural gas output was allocated to the export market.

The report also found that Australians pay between four and seven times more for gas than other large, gas-producing nations, including the US, Russia, Qatar, and Canada.

Former deputy chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, retired Air Vice Marshall John Backburn, said the wholesale exportation of gas could constitute a “deeply concerning” security issue.

“Australia does not have a National Security Strategy, does not have a National Risk Assessment, and the last time we had a National Energy Security Assessment was 2011,” Backburn said.

“How can rational decisions regarding the management of our energy resources possibly be made?

“Allowing the depletion of Australia’s gas reserves by decades of potential supply to feed exports, while Australians apparently face shortages, amounts to negligently undermining Australia’s energy security.”

Weld Australia chief executive Geoff Crittenden said Australia was at a “fork in the road” and faced losing its manufacturing base.

“The excessive gas price is not only a huge burden on industry, but its impact on the price of consumer goods like water heaters and the retail electricity price adds a substantial additional impost of Australian families,” he said.