Australia Signs $50 Billion Gas Deal With China

Relations between China and Australia may be at their lowest point for years on many fronts, but that hasn’t stopped the signing of a massive deal last night which is the biggest single investment ever seen in Australia.

Australia has cemented its biggest ever trade deal,  a $50 billion contract to supply liquefied natural gas to China, in what the Federal Government calls a win for everyone that will create jobs, help drag the economy back to health and still be good for the environment.

Resources minister Martin Ferguson has been gushing in praise for the deal, describing it as a win-win that would effectively be another “major economic stimulus” package.

In summary, the deal is being billed as providing thousands of new jobs, billions of dollars in tax revenue and a leg-up to switching to cleaner energy.  The project behind it has not yet received final green approval, but that is now seen as a formality.

The Opposition is keen to claim credit too.  Coalition frontbencher Joe Hockey welcomed the deal, but said the “platform” for it was laid back in the Howard years.