Dr Thomas has called on the State Government to allow Verve Energy to trade gas on the open market in an attempt to free up gas supplies for local industries.

“Verve will have a number of coal-fired units coming back onboard in the next few weeks, which will free up some capacity,” Dr Thomas said.

“While Verve will want to switch their other units from diesel back to gas, I believe they should be allowed to trade their fuel source into the market.”

Dr Thomas said that while Verve could not run their gas plants entirely on diesel, they could continue to use it where possible.

“This will free up gas for industries that have no options and have to have gas,” he said.

“South West industries could compete for the gas at a price which is equivalent to the diesel price for Verve.

“That way neither Verve or the taxpayer is out of pocket, but we might be able to save South West jobs.”

Dr Thomas said this was just one way to support South West industry.

“This is a time of crisis that has hit the South West particularly hard – we don’t yet know the full extent of the damage, or when gas supplies will return,” he said.

“If one section of the pipeline can blow out, as suggested by the government, what condition is the rest of the line in?”

Dr Thomas also said it had been suggested that corrosion could have been responsible for the recent explosion.

“If that was contributing it would apply to tens of kilometres of pipeline,” he said.

“When will the next section burst?”