A major dispute has arisen between the WA Government and Canberra over plans by the WA State Premier, Alan Carpenter, to reserve 20 per cent of the state’s natural gas output for use in Western Australia. The Federal Government, which writes export permits, wants the natural gas to be sold overseas.The battle centres upon contracts, soon to expire, which give assured domestic access to a portion of the trillions of cubic feet of natural gas beneath the North-West Shelf off the Pilbara and Kimber…
