Whatever the immediate and medium term outcomes might be, there is a growing international consensus that we must move towards dramatic reductions in greenhouse gas emissions. From the G8 to Garnaut the message is clear: we face an increasingly carbon constrained future; a carbon constrained economy. One way or another we must all adjust to an emissions trading scheme, with all the costs and opportunities that will flow from it.

And this is where the Northern Territory, in partnership with the gas industry, can play a real part.

In the past five years Darwin has established itself as Australia’s second international gas hub. This has occurred parallel with, and complementary to, both the opening of the AustralAsia Railway and expansion of the Port of Darwin. Our message is clear: the Territory is open for business.

The cornerstone of this developing hub is the ConocoPhillips’ Darwin LNG plant. Darwin Gas shipped its 100th cargo in March this year. The plant’s production capacity now stands at 3.5 million tonnes per annum with environmental approvals to increase production to 10 million tonnes per annum.

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Completion of the pipeline and associated processing plant for gas from the Blacktip field in the Joseph Bonaparte Gulf will allow our Power and Water Corporation to supply electricity to most major Northern Territory towns for up to the next 25 years. Construction activity for this almost $1 billion project is now reaching a peak, with first gas scheduled for early 2009.

In the big picture of our carbon constrained future this is good news. LNG produces 30-50 per cent less greenhouse gases than conventional coal – and approximately 40 per cent less water. As APPEA Chief Executive Belinda Robinson has pointed out, ambitions to achieve 70 per cent of all new power stations powered by LNG by 2017 will globally save some 180 million tonnes of greenhouse gas.

That’s why, over the past six months, I have worked hard to press the case for Ichthys LNG to be developed in Darwin – we are doing our best to convince our friends at INPEX and Total that Darwin is the place to be.

In my government’s strong commitment to the development of the gas and related industries in the Territory, it has been heartening to know that it is an industry that is committed to a future in which greenhouse emission reductions are at the heart of its strategy. It’s an industry that knows it is not the be-all and end-all of greenhouse reduction – but is absolutely aware of the important role it will play in tackling climate change in the coming decades.

It’s a government-industry partnership worth having, and one we welcome. It’s why I look forward to meeting with many in the industry at the next APPEA conference, to be held at our new Waterfront Convention Centre next May-June.

Paul Henderson

Chief Minister Northern Territory