The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) will continue to allow its residents to include gas connections in their new homes following a total ban announced by the Victorian government.
In making the decision, the state government said Victoria had the highest use of residential gas in Australia and that the gas sector was a significant contributor to the state’s emissions.
However, it assured Victorian residents that they would not face extra costs and could save up to $1,000 (US$667) in annual energy bills.
The controversial decision has sparked concerns that other jurisdictions would follow Victoria’s steps.
NSW Will Not Ban Resident Gas
In an interview with 2GB Radio, NSW Premier Chris Minns confirmed that his government would not introduce a residential gas ban.The premier noted that NSW was in a different circumstance from Victoria as the gas sector did not contribute much to the state’s emissions.
“Only seven percent of emissions in NSW are as a result of gas. Victoria has double the amount of emissions as a result of gas that NSW does,” he said.
“For Victoria, it’s more of a scarcity issue. Not necessarily so much of an environmental or climate issue.”
In addition, Mr. Minns pointed out that his government did not want to worsen the energy crisis in the state by introducing another policy change.
“We’re facing a situation where we need gas for the industry. We’ve also got baseload power that’s coming off in the next few years and not enough renewables coming into the system,” he said.
Nevertheless, the premier still insisted that going electric would be cheaper than using gas, considering the high capital costs for delivering gas to homes and the significant costs associated with getting from the fields to the existing system.
“The savings are somewhere between $1,000 and $7,000 a year, but that’s an individual choice for consumers,” he said.
“Most experts believe over time, the electric electrification of households will take place and gas will be used more for industry.”
Senator Says Victoria’s Gas Ban Is All About Control
Meanwhile, Nationals Senator Matt Canavan alleged that Victoria’s gas ban had nothing to do with climate change but, instead, a means for politicians to gain more control over people’s lives.The senator cited figures showing that reducing carbon emissions from shutting off all use of gas in Victorian households a year was equivalent to what was emitted from a coal-fired power station, adding that China was building two such power plants a week.
As he elaborated on the environmental effect of the gas ban, Mr. Canavan said that people needed to make sure that their voices were heard on such controversial issues.
“We need to have that kind of reaction here in this country before other states use it as a template,” he said, adding that those jurisdictions would not be adopting the policy if there was a significant backlash.
