Prosperity depends on right policies and collaboration, Woodside CEO declares

Liz also pledged she would be a constructive voice in Australia’s ongoing national conversation.

She made the comments in the Great Hall of Australia’s Parliament House in Canberra, in what was her first speech in the nation’s capital since being confirmed in the CEO role in March this year. 

Speaking at the Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) State of the Nation conference, she began by recounting the persistence shown by Woodside’s founders during the company’s early days. “Our business exists because those early explorers had the courage to take risks – and to persist,” she noted.

Liz went on to praise the governments, investors, customers and communities who showed the courage to back their vision.

And she finished by encouraging the room to continue their legacy by working together and ensuring the benefits of Australia’s world-class energy industry keep flowing to all Australians.

With the right policy settings and the right collaboration between industry, government and community, Australia’s resources sector can keep delivering for the nation, and help build the next wave of opportunity and growth," Liz declared.

Five takeaways from Liz’s speech:

• Australia’s natural gas reserves have underpinned the nation’s prosperity for decades, and can continue to do so for generations to come – with the right policy settings.

• Technical maturity and Australia’s proposed national domestic gas reservation scheme will influence whether Woodside progresses new gas development opportunities in Bass Strait.

• A new 25% tax on gas exports as touted by some would have made Australian LNG projects un-investable. 

• The best way to secure more energy and more tax revenue for Australia is to develop new projects, like the proposed Browse to North West Shelf Project.

• Energy security equals national security – for Australia and our region.

Australia’s Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also spoke at the conference, attended by senior representatives of all levels of government in Australia and members of the nation’s diplomatic, business and academic communities.

^{Artist impression (not to scale) of what the Browse to North West Shelf Project’s two floating production storage and offloading vessels could look like.}