‘Hands off’: Cook demands WA solidarity ahead of gas vote - The West Australian

Western Australian Premier Roger Cook has called for state unity ahead of a vote on whether to lift the state's ban on onshore gas extraction. Cook framed the issue as one of state sovereignty and economic interest, urging colleagues not to be influenced by pressure from other states or external actors. The vote will determine whether Western Australia permits onshore gas development, a move Cook has positioned as essential to the state's energy and economic future.

Where this fits

This is a sovereignty and reliability story masquerading as a gas debate. Western Australia is considering onshore gas not because gas is the destination fuel, but because it is firm, dispatchable power that can be deployed when renewable output falls. Gas is the firming layer the national grid has already locked itself into needing: no large-scale battery storage exists, no firm renewable alternative has been approved for deployment, and nuclear remains banned by law. The real pressure Cook is resisting is not state parochialism but the implicit demand from other states and the national grid operator that WA export its only reliable backup fuel while importing weather-dependent power and the transmission infrastructure needed to carry it. That is a cost and security transfer from WA to other jurisdictions.

What it means

If WA holds its onshore gas ban, the eastern grid will remain dependent on either gas imports from other states or a deeper reliance on weather-dependent solar and wind. Either way, system costs rise and grid resilience narrows. Australia's electricity system is being built on the premise that gas will be available for firming at need. Banning its production in one state does not eliminate that need; it relocates it and raises the cost of meeting it. The absence of firm, low-emission alternatives, coal is ruled out, nuclear is ruled out, means gas will remain the fallback for years.