Gas will Fudge our Future: What's a gas fired recovery?

Have you heard us talk about the Governments ‘Gas Fired Recovery’ but not quite sure what we are talking about? Well, it’s about spending dough in all the wrong places, places that will fudge not fund our future. 

Here’s the issue - the Australian Liberal Government is planning to spend over $50 million of public dough into gas, a dirty fossil fuel that drives climate change. 

This is despite experts all over Australia saying that clean, renewable energy is good to go. The Government is choosing to ignore this advice. 

Despite claims from Scott Morrison and his Government, gas will not benefit Australians – it won’t benefit communities, workers, our economy, and it certainly won’t benefit our future. 

One of the problems is that it creates short term and unreliable jobs, but it also threatens jobs in the environment and tourism. Gas is also a fossil fuel that is driving worsening climate change, something everyone in Australia has now experienced for themselves. 

And it gets even worse – the proposed gas fracking sites are owned by Traditional owners, yet the Government has not consulted or got approval from the Traditional owners. This is not just a climate justice issue – it’s also about social justice. 

What is this so bad?

Put simply, gas is a fossil fuel that is driving worsening climate change. In fact, in the short term, gas is often more polluting than coal! Gas is mostly made of methane, a greenhouse gas which is up to 84x more potent than carbon dioxide in the short term. Words like potent and polluting are not good news for a planet that needs to cool down in a hurry.

Gas is also more expensive than renewable energy. Luckily for us (and for the planet!), renewable energy is the cheapest form of new energy generation and doesn’t contribute to climate change.

Why would the Government push gas, when it’s so bad for the planet?

The only reason we are seeing more of gas is that lots of people don’t know it’s a fossil fuel, so don’t know how bad it is for the planet. The fossil fuel lobby* (*the groups that make money from selling fossil fuels) pay lots of money in donations to politicians, and in return, Australia’s Leaders make decisions that benefit the fossil fuel industry. 

Sadly, this isn’t for the best interests of the people of Australia or our climate, but only the best interests of those who make money from fossil fuels. 

What’s the solution?

The news isn’t all bad - actually – it’s good! There has never been a better time to invest in clean energy. Windy windmills, sunny solar – it’s all ready to go in our sunshiny climate.  

We need to spend our upcoming 2021 budget on renewable energy, not fossil fuels! We need to get the fudge away from gas and spend the money on setting Australia up for a thriving and safe future.

How can we power up renewables?

What are we waiting for? Let’s get to green action! If you are passionate about renewable energy, take action with our friends at 350 Australia in calling for a renewables led recovery and let’s get clean!