PEP11 too valuable to be treated like a political football

Petroleum Exploration Permit 11, or PEP11, is perhaps the most significant unexplored gas field Australia has at its doorstep, and it is being stifled by bureaucracy.

Even for those who know nothing about gas exploration, PEP11 will sound familiar, unfortunately for all the wrong reasons.

In 2022, then prime minister Scott Morrison made a political decision that would forever be known as the 'secret ministries'. This decision allowed Morrison to be secretly sworn in to a range of ministries unbeknown to his colleagues, including the ministry for resources. This plan would allow for the power to decide the fate of PEP11 to rest on his shoulders, rather than where it should have: with then resources minister Keith Pitt.

The plan was enacted, and Morrison, in a bold and desperate move to win votes along the east coast of Sydney, pandered to a small, vocal minority and denied PEP11 in a very public press conference on a Terrigal beach.

The PEP11 permit-holder appealed against this decision and the court found that Morrison was guilty of a number of questionable actions and, as a result, quashed the denial and ordered PEP11 to be reviewed and decided upon according to the law.

Morrison's government lost not only those seats he was trying to save, but the election.

Australia has arguably the world leader when it comes to assessing exploration permits, and this regulatory body, known as the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator (NOPTA), was asked to once again review PEP11 and provide a recommendation to the now Labor government.

It has been established under FOI that NOPTA's original recommendation to the Morrison government was to approve the exploration permit. This is standard practice, and a number of permits are approved each year so Australia can continue to explore for crucial resources and keep the lights on.

NOPTA reviewed this permit for a second time and, while the recommendation of this subsequent review is confidential, one can assume that a further recommendation of approval has been forwarded to the now ALP government.

Fast forward more than 12 months since the court ruling, and Australia finds itself held to ransom by a bureaucracy that refuses to act in the national interest.

The approval process requires that the NOPTA recommendation first go to the NSW Minister for Finance and Natural Resources, Courtney Houssos, for review and judgement. That outcome is then sent to federal Resources Minister Madeline King, who has the final say on approval or denial of this permit.

But here's the catch. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis where energy prices are astronomical, there is no timeframe for either state or federal ministers to provide a decision on the permit. As such, the permit sits in a sea of political and bureaucratic red tape while, in the sea, gas continues to seep out of the seabed where the exploration is to take place.

NSW does not produce any of its own gas, relying on Queensland to do its heavy lifting. This is despite having a potential natural gas resource on its doorstep.

The NSW government, rather than assist the process of gas supply to the state, recently passed a bill prohibiting any exploration infrastructure such as pipelines from being built within 5 kilometres of its shoreline.

The federal minister who has the ability and authority to require a timely decision from its state counterpart, sits idly by while families struggle with soaring heating and cooling bills.

The question needs to be asked. Why is PEP11, which has the potential to supply our domestic gas markets for years to come, being treated like a political football, rather than the amazing natural resource that it could be?

I challenge the government to do what is right for Australia and show the leadership it was voted in to provide by putting bias and politics aside and administering a decision on PEP11 in accordance with the law and national interest.