The more things change the more they stay the same. Ferguson is curiously echoing R.F.X. Connor his counterpart in the Whitlam Government. His immediate predecessor Ian MacFarlane pushed the flog-it-asap line. Look what happened not only to his boss John Howard but to Tony Blair who ushered in the collapse of North Sea gas. Maybe APPEA can't remember anything from as long ago as last year.

Personally I think resource nationalism could be an agent of necessary change. For example I think yellowcake sales should have strings attached.

Wasn't Barrow Island supposed to be used for CO2 reinjection? A molecular sieve at a distant LNG train (Burrup?) was supposed to separate CO2 which would be pumped out to the island then beneath it. Perhaps the oil masters have sussed that our new gubmint is not fair dinkum about reducing CO2.