WA government fails to back up premier’s claim expanding gas industry will be good for planet

Western Australian premier Roger Cook said expanding the state’s gas industry would lead to a ‘dramatic reduction in global emissions’. Photograph: Ken Mulvaney

The Western Australian government has produced no evidence to back up a claim that expanding the state’s gas industry – and increasing its greenhouse gas pollution in the short term – will be good for the planet as it will lead to a “dramatic reduction” in global emissions.

The premier, Roger Cook, made the claim at a media conference on Thursday. Cook made similar arguments at a WA energy transition summit on Friday, when speakers including the federal resources minister, Madeleine King, backed the development of new gas reserves alongside renewable energy and critical minerals.