Article by Paul Garvey and Perry Williams of The Australian.
27.02.2025
A hung parliament could spell trouble for Australia’s renewable energy rollout, Infrastructure NSW chairman and veteran company director Graham Bradley has warned, as the chorus of business leaders concerned about the upcoming election continues to grow.
As Anthony Albanese declared his belief that Labor still had a path to majority government, Mr Graham – a former Business Council of Australia president whose current and former directorships include Virgin Australia, EnergyAustralia, GrainCorp and HSBC – told The Australian that a minority government would hurt investor sentiment across a host of different sectors.
“Even if there’s a returned minority Labor government, there’ll be new ministers taking positions, and there’ll be policy confusion and debates which are going to cause delays, particularly in critical sectors where we need real momentum, such as continued investment in the renewable energy space,” he said.
The Greens this week said they would pressure Labor to block the approval of Woodside Energy’s $30bn extension of the North West Shelf gas project in the event of a power-sharing deal with Labor. Teal MP Kate Chaney has also called for Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek to reject Woodside’s application, while fellow teal Monique Ryan on Wednesday called on both major parties to commit to net zero and for the Coalition to abandon its nuclear plans.
After oil and gas executives, including Woodside chief executive Meg O’Neill and Beach Energy boss Brett Woods, warned that a minority government would be a “nightmare” that would deliver “horrific” policy outcomes, Mr Bradley told The Australian minority governments “were never good for business”.
Mr Bradley said renewable energy projects across Australia were already being deferred amid uncertainty associated with the federal election and developments in the United States.
He also warned that a future federal government beholden to the Greens or teals would be a setback for serious discussions around Australia’s gas and coal industries.
The Greens and multiple teal MPs have advocated for no new gas projects, a stance Mr Bradley said would do nothing for global emissions but would cause serious issues for Australian living standards. “The world needs more gas, and the world’s going to need coal a lot longer than people appreciated,” he said. “The demand is there, but there’s plenty of people around the world that can provide it, and if we keep pushing the cost of our projects up and creating significant delays then we as a nation just lose out.
“That has a cumulative impact on federal budgets and federal tax revenues, and hence on the overall ability of government to continue to provide services. So we’re going to need to see a clearing of the political air in that regard before we’re going to achieve our full potential.” He said it was a “national scandal” that NSW and Victoria had effectively banned onshore drilling for gas, with the prospect of federal pressure being placed on those states to become even more remote in the event of a minority government.
Mick McCormack, a director of Whitehaven Coal and Origin Energy, told The Australian that a hung parliament with a Greens balance of power would be the “worst outcome”.
“I’m concerned that after the federal election any policy movement that stymies more gas coming into the system is bad and will put further pressure on the integrity of the energy system in this country,” he said.
The former chief executive of gas pipeline company APA Group said it was his personal opinion the development of more gas supplies was vital to ensure Australia avoided energy shortfalls. “My concern with the left side of politics is they are pursuing ideals that fly in the face of pragmatic reality. We need more gas in the system,” he said.
The latest comments came as Anthony Albanese said he was “confident” his party could achieve a majority government, declaring there were seats held by both the Coalition and Greens that were “vulnerable”. “If you want a majority government, I’m the only person leading a single party seeking a majority government and I believe we’ll get there,” the Prime Minister said at an event in Melbourne.
