Attributable to DomGas Alliance Spokesperson Mia Davies:
Western Australia’s domestic gas reservation policy has helped underpin the State’s energy security and industrial growth for decades.
The central principle of the WA reservation system is that LNG projects granted the right to export gas must meet the domestic gas commitments attached to that approval. It is our gas, and it should work for WA.
The State Government has reported that domestic gas deliveries by LNG producers increased from 8.7 percent of LNG exports in 2021 to 12.5 percent in 2025.
That is a positive development, but it is still not 15 percent and does nothing to make up for chronic undersupply in previous years. Nor do the improved figures remove the need to assess whether individual projects are delivering the commitments they made.
These gains were also made in the shadow of a Parliamentary Inquiry called to identify the reason why supply shortfalls were being forecast in a State with a long-standing gas reservation policy in place.
Arguing for the status quo – including retaining the right for LNG exporters to deliver their domestic obligations over the life of a project tips the scales strongly in favour of producers. The uncertainty of when and how much will be delivered does not support investment by businesses reliant on the gas – businesses that generate significant local jobs, and produce materials that sustain our mining, agricultural and housing sectors.
And, if gas is needed during a shortfall, a promise from exporters to make it up decades later offers little comfort to WA households and industry.
Woodside’s Pluto project is the cautionary tale.
Since 2017, Woodside has supplied just 3.7 percent of the 15 percent obligation established in the WA domestic gas policy. Few would argue this represents an appropriate level of domestic supply.
It’s another flaw that needs to be addressed for our State’s domestic gas reservation policy to deliver on the promise it makes to the West Australian people - the numbers are not publicly reported.
Instead, the DomGas Alliance has done independent analysis to demonstrate why the policy needs strengthening.
Greater transparency is needed so government, industry and the community can have confidence that domestic gas commitments are being delivered.
The Government’s estimate that around 20 percent of WA gas production is supplied to the domestic market includes gas from producers that do not export LNG.
Those suppliers make an important contribution to WA’s energy supply. However, their contribution cannot be used to offset or allow other LNG exporters to hide from their share of responsibility. We need annual project-level accountability so commitments can be measured, understood and enforced.
With domestic gas supply pressures forecast from 2028, Western Australians need confidence that committed gas will be available when needed, not an IOU for a date down the road.
If the expectation from government is that producers will make up historical under-delivery in future years, industry, government and the community need clear visibility of whether that is actually occurring. The Domestic Gas Statement needs timely, consistent and project-level reporting to provide meaningful accountability.
The DomGas Alliance is prepared to back the Premier as he warns Canberra off.
We’d be standing shoulder to shoulder if we had a guarantee that in the wake of seeing off the latest threat from the eastern States there’d be a concerted effort to strengthen our own policy.
It’s 20 years since the policy was formalised – a few tweaks to make sure it’s match fit for the next 20 years would create the certainty industry and businesses need to keep investing and generating the jobs, products and economic value that underpins our state and national economy.
