There's fresh debate over banning gas after the City of Sydney council voted to begin the process of making all new homes and businesses gas free.
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00:00 It actually doesn't apply to any existing gas connections.
00:05 So no one's being forced or being told to change their current gas appliances.
00:10 This only applies to new builds and renovations that are large enough that you actually have
00:14 to change the gas meter.
00:16 So that doesn't happen that often.
00:18 But it is a fundamental change to the way we think about energy and energy use in Australia,
00:22 isn't it?
00:23 That's right.
00:24 And I think one of the important things about what these governments are doing are signalling
00:27 that they see electrification as the future and really sending that signal to the broader
00:31 community to rethink whether they actually need gas for heating or for cooking.
00:37 There's time to really... and there is time for people to rethink whether they need a
00:41 gas appliance.
00:42 Is it the case though that at this point in time in our energy mix that shifting away
00:48 from gas is actually worse for the environment because of our dependence on coal?
00:54 Well it gets complicated because gas is quite dirty because you have methane emissions at
00:59 the time of extraction.
01:00 Which is one of the most damaging greenhouse gases.
01:02 That's right.
01:03 And a lot of people don't talk about that.
01:05 And then it's the CO2 that happens when you burn the gas.
01:08 But also lots of people and lots of studies have come out talking about the impacts on
01:11 asthma and other people with respiratory conditions.
01:14 So there's a lot of reasons to start thinking about getting away from gas.
01:18 But many proponents who say we should be shifting away from gas also say it's a long game,
01:23 but it's not something that happens immediately.
01:25 That isn't necessarily an argument for making any significant impact on the environment,
01:30 is it?
01:31 Well that's why this also only applies to new builds.
01:34 Because it's relatively a step by step process, really signalling that people need to start
01:39 thinking about it.
01:40 And really for people at home, it's really at the time when you're thinking about replacing
01:44 your oven.
01:45 And most people in NSW don't even have gas.
01:48 It's only about 43%.
01:50 In ACT Victoria it's towards 70%.
01:52 But there'll be a lot of people at home wondering why this is so controversial.
01:55 How does industry feel about this change?
01:58 Definitely that's one of the impacts.
02:01 But still it's a slow process.
02:04 It's not about changing existing appliances, getting out of that.
02:08 It's a signal for the future.
02:09 How do you bring industry on board?
02:11 I think talking about that role, and I think that's where this sort of targeting, by doing
02:16 it slowly, we're preparing industry to make that shift.
02:20 One of the things that I would really encourage governments to do is support more apprenticeships
02:25 in electrification type of support services.
02:28 EVs, battery testing, in terms of installing solar panels and other things like that.
02:33 One of the things we don't want to see is young people getting into the gas industry
02:37 now when we are expecting it to disappear at some point in the future.
02:41 And is that happening?
02:43 Yes.
02:44 Some regions do have special apprenticeship schemes for electrification type of services,
02:50 looking at solar panel installations, battery installations will be happening.
02:55 That's one of the important things that the state government could do to support this
02:58 move.
02:58 [BLANK_AUDIO]