Tag: LNG

Beyond The Budget BS…

In this show, I want to go beyond the superficial analysis of the recent budget given my in box has been flooded by “analysis: thousands of sources, much missing the point.

And in passing a recognition that the proposal to remove the non compete clause in employee contracts, is one welcome surprise.

But the Spin was in full force through the budget speech this week, with Chalmers claiming it represented the biggest ever” improvement in the budget bottom line since Labor’s May 2022 election, based on the May 22 forecast deficit of $79.8 million. This is the annual loss, not the cumulative total! Now, wall-to-wall deficits projected are projected ahead, so it’s a bit rich for the Treasurer to spin so hard, we all might get giddy.

Actually, the budget has been in deficit 33 of the past 50 years – or two-thirds of the time since Gough Whitlam lost office. And yet in that time our standard of living has improved and we still exist as a sovereign nation. So why all the focus on deficits and surrounding spin?

In summary, according to KPMG we got a forecast underlying cash balance of $42.1 billion in 2025-26; a $4.8 billion improvement on the recent MYEFO estimate. But Nearly $85 billion of “off-budget” spending over the forward estimate period, resulting in cumulative headline cash balance deficits of $236 billion over the four years to 2028-29.

But whether we look at the gas cartel, or tobacco tax, so many issues of importance were missed, indicative a a budget for the election, not reform for the ages….

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Details of our one to one service are here: https://digitalfinanceanalytics.com/blog/dfa-one-to-one/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Worst Ever Great Idea: Australia IMPORTS LNG!

I have been talking about the absolutely stupid Government policy of gas supply, as a few big multinational companies continue to pump and export gas owned by Australia abroad, using energy from said gas sufficient to support Australian need, in order to liquidity it for export.

The stupidity stems from the lack of an east coast reservation approach (something which Western Australia has done well with a mandated domestic gas reservation policy and there energy prices are lower as a result), with exporters making massive profits (most of which do not hit Australian shores either) thanks to high international demand.

Australia does not have a physical shortage of gas so much as an artificial one, given most of the country’s supplies are exported via long-term contracts to lucrative markets in North Asia.

Gas has become a proxy fuel in two ways. First the marginal price of gas – which is roughly 5 times what it should be – drives the cost of electricity, which is also high – even after government support for households. In addition, the use of gas as a transition strategy despite its high contribution to the climate predicament we are in, blunts other more sustainable long term options. Gas is just as much a problem as oil and coal, a harmful fossil fuel that will doom the world to rising temperatures and ever more pollution.
But nevertheless here we are, because successive Governments appear under the thumb of big gas, and mumble on about Australia’s reputation risk if they acted in the interests of Australians!

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is forecasting that within just a few short years, supplies of gas on the east coast could fall well short of demand at peak times, typically in winter.

So now, for the first time, and in spite of Australia’s position as one of the world’s biggest gas exporters, the country is preparing to do something that was once unthinkable. The scene of the crime of a place I know well, Port Kembla in New South Wales, near Wollongong and about 100 k’s south of Sydney.

http://www.martinnorth.com/

Go to the Walk The World Universe at https://walktheworld.com.au/

Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Digital Finance Analytics (DFA) Blog
Worst Ever Great Idea: Australia IMPORTS LNG!
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Worst Ever Great Idea: Australia IMPORTS LNG!

I have been talking about the absolutely stupid Government policy of gas supply, as a few big multinational companies continue to pump and export gas owned by Australia abroad, using energy from said gas sufficient to support Australian need, in order to liquidity it for export.

The stupidity stems from the lack of an east coast reservation approach (something which Western Australia has done well with a mandated domestic gas reservation policy and there energy prices are lower as a result), with exporters making massive profits (most of which do not hit Australian shores either) thanks to high international demand.

Australia does not have a physical shortage of gas so much as an artificial one, given most of the country’s supplies are exported via long-term contracts to lucrative markets in North Asia.

Gas has become a proxy fuel in two ways. First the marginal price of gas – which is roughly 5 times what it should be – drives the cost of electricity, which is also high – even after government support for households. In addition, the use of gas as a transition strategy despite its high contribution to the climate predicament we are in, blunts other more sustainable long term options. Gas is just as much a problem as oil and coal, a harmful fossil fuel that will doom the world to rising temperatures and ever more pollution.
But nevertheless here we are, because successive Governments appear under the thumb of big gas, and mumble on about Australia’s reputation risk if they acted in the interests of Australians!

The Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) is forecasting that within just a few short years, supplies of gas on the east coast could fall well short of demand at peak times, typically in winter.

So now, for the first time, and in spite of Australia’s position as one of the world’s biggest gas exporters, the country is preparing to do something that was once unthinkable. The scene of the crime of a place I know well, Port Kembla in New South Wales, near Wollongong and about 100 k’s south of Sydney.