<div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>A new report claims that in the past handful of years, Australia has exported enough gas to supply domestic needs for two decades - even as local prices surge to record highs and warnings of shortages persist.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The Australia Institute's analysis found that the country's low-cost gas was largely being exported, while the more difficult-to-access, environmentally-damaging, high-cost gas was left for domestic use.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In the past five years, the report found, the federal government had permitted the export of the equivalent of 22 years of Australia's total gas demand.</span></div></div><div><div id="adspot-mobile-medium"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/donald-trump-cnn-poll-worst-disapproval-rating-ever/9de1f1b2-6c22-400e-8e61-f077957599c5" target="_blank"><strong><span>Trump plummets to a stunning new low</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>It also claimed the gas industry used more gas to process gas for export than Australians used for power plants, manufacturing, or households.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>In 2023-2024, 83 per cent of all natural gas extracted in Australia went to the export industry.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>The report also found that Australians pay between four and seven times more for gas than other large, gas-producing nations, including the US, Russia, Qatar, and Canada.</span></div></div><div><div class="OUTBRAIN" data-reactroot="" data-src="//www.9news.com.au/national/australia-exported-20-years-worth-of-gas-in-five-years-while-facing-domestic-shortages/d00d6ee5-64dd-4a98-ae9d-7b9ef6708be9" data-widget-id="AR_5"></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/bella-culley-update-pregnant-british-teen-arrested-for-drug-smuggling-in-georgia-released-after-guilty-verdict/ffa2048a-de7c-4169-959b-2f9e0964601c" target="_blank"><strong><span>How pregnant teen went from Thai holiday to jail in Georgia</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Former deputy chief of the Royal Australian Air Force, retired Air Vice Marshall John Backburn, said the wholesale exportation of gas could constitute a "deeply concerning" security issue.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Australia does not have a National Security Strategy, does not have a National Risk Assessment, and the last time we had a National Energy Security Assessment was 2011," Backburn said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"How can rational decisions regarding the management of our energy resources possibly be made?</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><strong><span>READ MORE:</span></strong><span> </span><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/world/torre-dei-conti-collapse-medieval-tower-in-rome-partially-collapses-during-renovations-injuring-worker/2e0e2ebd-1b3f-4f7c-b582-180e405c39ea" target="_blank"><strong><span>Medieval tower collapses in the heart of Rome</span></strong></a></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"Allowing the depletion of Australia's gas reserves by decades of potential supply to feed exports, while Australians apparently face shortages, amounts to negligently undermining Australia's energy security."</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>Weld Australia chief executive Geoff Crittenden said Australia was at a "fork in the road" and faced losing its manufacturing base.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><span>"The excessive gas price is not only a huge burden on industry, but its impact on the price of consumer goods like water heaters and the retail electricity price adds a substantial additional impost of Australian families," he said.</span></div></div><div class="block-content"><div class="styles__Container-sc-1ylecsg-0 goULFa"><a href="https://www.9news.com.au/national/how-to-follow-9news-digital/29855bb1-ad3d-4c38-bc25-3cb52af1216f" 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