[https://www.abc.net.au/.../gas....-belongs-to-us.../10

WA's state policy of quarantining 15% of gas for its own market with the WA premier labelled "a wrecker" by former Liberal minster Ian Macfarlane, who is now chief executive of the Queensland Resources Council at energy forums.

The architect of WA's domestic gas reservation policy was former Labor premier Alan Carpenter. Amid warnings that spiralling gas prices on Australia's east coast could send some manufacturers broke and spur an outbreak of food price inflation, Mr Carpenter (Labor) and Mr Barnett (Liberal) decried what they labelled the "stupid" decisions of successive Federal governments and the Qld governments.

In a rare interview since leaving politics in 2008, Mr Carpenter said it defied belief that Australia had allowed itself to run short of gas supplies on the heavily populated east coast when it was the WORLD'S EQUAL LARGEST PRODUCER.

He said a succession of political leaders had been persuaded by false arguments against domestic obligations, lamenting that it was ordinary consumers who were paying the price.

Former WA premier Alan Carpenter says eastern Australia is paying for "stupid" mistakes in the past. "Ordinary people in the suburbs living ordinary lives, many of whom are on low or fixed incomes, are having to pay the price for the economic failures of the federal government."

The 65-year-old said the root of the gas crisis on the east coast lay in the unwillingness of both federal LNP and Labor governments to impose domestic gas obligations on Queensland's liquefied natural gas (LNG) export industry before it became established.

"I argued with the then Federal minister Ian Macfarlane and then Martin Ferguson, that they needed to put in place a gas reservation policy or they would face critical problems in future years," he said.

"Ian Macfarlane just condemned me up hill and down dale. "In international oil and gas conferences he said I was a wrecker.

"Now, 16 years later, we see what the reality is.

Under WA's policy, 15 per cent of gas reserves within the state's jurisdiction are quarantined for the local market where the fuel makes up more than half its energy needs, including about 40% of its power generation.

Mr Barnett said Mr Carpenter "quite correctly" formalized the policy to look after the interests of the people who ultimately owned the gas. "The gas is not owned by the companies – that's the bottom line. Mr Barnett said. "Australia has got every right to expect some of that gas to be preserved for the Australian economy."

According to Mr Barnett, gas projects were often majority foreign-owned, including by sovereign governments and major gas users such as Japan, Korea and China. He said this often placed an inherent tension between the gas producers and Australia's interests because the companies wanted every molecule available for export.

While supporting foreign investment in Australia's natural resources, he said the eastern states' experience showed what can happen when safeguards for domestic consumers were not built in.

"The companies that built these massive LNG projects are basically overseas-owned. Their obligation as overseas-owned sometimes government owned corporations, and I'm not against that, is to supply their own domestic markets of China, Sth Korea and Japan, these are the our biggest markets.

"I think they thought they could basically ignore Australia. Lobbying group Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association (APPEA) acting chief executive Damian Dwyer said gas exports were not to blame for the high prices in the eastern states.

"The current east coast pricing pressures are not a result of gas exports," Mr Dwyer said. Its because Australians are forced to pay export parity prices for our own gas. The International price for gas has skyrocketed.

"There has been a 50% increase in gas use due to coal-fired power plant failures and the current inability of renewables to increase supply due to lack of storage and appropriate grid infrastructure.

Looking back on his own time in office when he stared down oil and gas giants including Exxon to introduce domestic gas obligations, Mr Carpenter was adamant. He said the decision to impose a reservation policy in WA was a "tough one" that had to overcome fierce resistance from industry, but governments are empowered to look after the public interest.

"The global oil and gas industry is very powerful," he said. "It's very powerful and it's very sophisticated. "But when you're in government you can be very powerful as well.

"And, in the end, if you take a position which is in the national interest — not in some narrow self-interest — and stick to it, then you can prevail.

Far removed from the turmoil unfolding in the eastern states, Western Australia is enjoying some of the cheapest and most stable energy prices in the developed world.