SYDNEY, Monday 8 December 2025 — Greenpeace Australia Pacific has warned the Albanese government against plans to subsidise gas for industrial users, saying it should instead be supporting industry to decarbonise.
Media reports today that Labor is weighing up an intervention to start bulk-buying gas and selling it at discounted rates to industrial users, comes as the government is expected to announce an East Coast gas reservation policy in the coming weeks.
Greenpeace says the intervention would be at odds with Australia’s commitment to phase out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies, including under the Glasgow Climate Pact and the Belém Declaration on the transition away from fossil fuels inked outside the UN COP30 conference in Brazil less than three weeks ago.
Joe Rafalowicz, Head of Climate and Energy at Greenpeace Australia Pacific, said: “When it comes to fossil fuels and climate action, the government wants to have its cake and eat it too — joining the Belém Declaration to transition from fossil fuels on the global stage, while pouring subsidies into polluting gas at home.
“The fact the government is considering interventions to prop up the dirty gas industry while homes are being burned to the ground as bushfires rage across NSW and Tasmania, is a level of cognitive dissonance not easily understood.
“It is mind-boggling the Albanese government is seriously considering propping up the gas industry who profit from selling our gas overseas, and actively lobby to weaken and block climate policy in Australia.
“Gas is expensive, unreliable and unnecessary, and the government should be seeking to exit gas as quickly as possible rather than prolonging its death throes.
“The Albanese government should instead be supporting industry and workers to decarbonise and reduce their gas demand, so they can be competitive as the world moves away from fossil fuels and our trading partners demand low carbon products. If the government doesn't invest in the green economy of the future, workers and industry will be left behind.”
-ENDS-
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