ANALYSIS
Complaint filed with the ACCC to investigate potential misleading and deceptive conduct by Australians for Natural Gas
Climate Integrity believes Australians for Natural Gas is misleading the public with disinformation about the role of gas in the transition and misrepresenting itself as a grassroots community group.
Australians for Natural Gas (AfNG) has been promoting an expanded role for gas through its ‘Australia, it’s time to turn on the gas’ campaign. Climate Integrity and the Environmental Defenders Office, have undertaken an analysis of claims made by AfNG and subsequently filed a complaint to the ACCC. We believe AfNG’s campaign materials may be breach section 18 of the Australian Consumer Law.
The AfNG website advocates for new gas development using inaccurate information. It states: “We believe natural gas is essential for maintaining Australian living standards and our way of life” and “We support the expanded production and continued use of Australia’s abundant reserves of natural of natural gas.” As such, Climate Integrity believes that ‘Australia, it’s time to turn on the gas’ should be taken to mean that new gas reserves should be developed in Australia. The AfNG campaign also claims that new gas reserves are required to grow the Australian economy, reduce energy prices and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
AfNG was registered by Joel Riddle on 25 January 2025. Riddle is the managing director and CEO of Tamboran Resources Corporation, a natural gas exploration company listed on the Australian and New York stock exchanges. Tamboran’s sole interests are in developing fracking operations in the Beetaloo/McArthur Basin, an untapped onshore shale gas reserve in the Northern Territory. Nathaniel Smith and Lyndal Maloney are also listed as directors – Smith is a former Liberal MP and is running as the Liberal Party candidate for Whitlam in this year’s federal election.
The IPCC projects that current greenhouse gas emissions are leading us towards 3.2ºC of global warming, a figure that will cause widespread global disruption, economic and social collapse, and geopolitical instability. Deceptive or misleading sustainability representations are illegal under Australian consumer law. Greenwashing creates a false sense of progress and reduces the urgency for the necessary action to prevent further worsening climate impacts.
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"A Liberal candidate in the Federal Election, a lobbyist, and a gas company CEO are representing themselves as a community group to push disinformation about gas on the public during an election campaign. It's particularly critical for our democracy to protect information integrity during election campaigns so that voters are armed with accurate information to make informed choices.”
Claire Snyder
Director, Climate Integrity
