AUSTRALIA’S conservative government has doubled down on fossil fuels, offering subsidies to both the natural gas and oil refining industries as part of efforts to revitalise the economy after the devastation of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Prime Minister Scott Morrison has announced a national gas development plan, which includes strategies to create a hub for natural gas, develop gas fields, build and subsidise pipelines and may even see the government weighing in to construct a gas-fired power plant, according to several media reports.