PERTH (miningweekly.com) – Newly appointed federal Resources Minister Madeleine King is facing backlash following her support of oil and gas major Santos' controversial Narrabri gas development.

In an interview with the Herald and The Age, King was quoted as saying that "critics of the project should accept the need for gas as part of the transition from coal to renewable energy".

“If Narrabri meets all the environmental standards, and by all accounts it does, then it makes sense for it to go ahead,” King was quoted.

“It is an important gas reserve that will help the population of New South Wales address a future power crisis. It avoids a crisis, is what it does, because it means more gas closer to your systems.”

King pointed out that a straight switch from coal-fired electricity to renewables was not possible, and that gas would be needed to help transition Australia’s grid towards zero emissions.

The Narrabri gas project has the potential to supply enough natural gas to meet up to half of New South Wales’ natural gas demand where more than one-million family homes, 33 000 businesses and 300 000 jobs rely on natural gas as a source of energy.

The project received federal approval in 2020 as well as from the New South Wales Independent Planning Commission. The Planning Commission’s approval was questioned in the New South Wales Land and Environment Court last year, but the decision was upheld.

The Native Title Tribunal process for the project is still ongoing, and earlier this year, Gomeroi Traditional Owners voted 162 to 2 to oppose the gasfield, which would involve the drilling of 850 coal seam gas wells in and around the Pilliga Forrest, which is considered sacred by the Gomeroi people.

Greens group Lock the Gate Alliance national coordinator Georgina Woods said Santos and other gas companies had been exploiting the high gas prices and tight market they engineered to exert political pressure for more damaging gasfields for years.

“Santos is the architect of the gas supply crisis we now face," she said.

"It’s embarrassing for the new Labor government to have a Minister duped by the gas industry’s self-serving campaign. Sacrificing the beautiful Pilliga to hundreds of gaswells will do nothing to reduce the high price of gas. What our country needs is a pathway to zero emissions and a government that puts people and the environment first.

“The last thing a new federal government should be doing is locking Australians into a future reliant on high gas prices. The renewable energy revolution is well and truly under way. That’s where King should be focusing her energy.”