This is a story straight out of the old TV show — Yes Minister — but regrettably it’s a true story for the energy company Woodside, it’s shareholders and ultimately Australian households who are set for continued high power prices. And if predictions of a gas shortfall are true, we could be warmer in summer and colder in winter!

This frustrating story was succinctly told by the AFR’s Jennifer Hewett with the major players being the CEO of oil and gas company, Woodside, which reported its profits this week, Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek and WA Premier Roger Cook, who goes to the polls on March 8.

The trigger for Hewett’s piece is summed up in the following: “After waiting six years for the WA government’s approval for Woodside to extend the life of its North West Shelf project, for example, chief executive Meg O’Neill says she is disappointed by the Albanese government’s decision this month to further delay federal approval.”

Based on this, the “delay all hard decisions” Yes Minister syndrome seems to be playing out at both federal and state levels.

What it looks like is that a looming federal election means that the Albanese Government is afraid of environmental activists and green-supported Teal independents that threaten Labor candidates, especially in inner city seats of Sydney and Melbourne.

It also looks like Ms Plibersek has played a delaying game to appease the green lobby and voters, while Premier Cook blames “east coast latte sippers” for these delays threatening the money that bankrolls a lot of WA’s standard of living. Meanwhile, Woodside cops lower profits and its shareholders pocket lower returns.

But these government-supported delays ignore what the Woodside CEO knows will be a big public outcry issue.

Hewett cuts to the point on this subject.

“O’Neill has certainly been consistent in pointing out the looming crisis of domestic supply most obvious in Victoria,” she writes. “After years of government denials, reality has caught up, including plans to import LNG in a country with extensive gas resources but thwarted development in its two most populous states.”

But it’s not just green-scared politicians threatening Victorians with chilly winters, and all of us with bigger power bills.

Hewett explains that all of the above story “puts into ironic perspective Woodside’s dilemma last year in having its climate action transition plan voted down at its AGM despite the company’s protracted consultations. Major Australian investors, including industry super funds, claimed progress and promises on future emissions reductions were inadequate.”

So, big industry super funds are also standing in the way of Woodside and reliable gas supplies, arguing Woodside is effectively to slow in going greener.

Clearly, Woodside has plenty of forces in its way to do what it’s supposed to do, namely make profits, and they include — governments, environmentally concerned voters, industry super funds and public servants with approval processes designed by politicians who are afraid of losing power.

The word “power” comes with a certain irony, doesn’t it? Effectively, this story says our economy has a power problem and it’s not being helped by politicians scared of losing political power!

And the timing of this story is made more relevant with Donald Trump now in power in the White House, who is rooting for oil and gas producers in the US, while planning to pullback on tax and other incentives for renewables development. And it is at a time when the reality of the green transition for energy supply is being put on a slower timetable worldwide.

It seems that the reality is biting overseas with higher power and fuel prices powering inflation, and along with other issues, its feeding the rise of more right-wing-inclined voters, as well as the governments they elect. The US and Germany are recent cases in point.

On a related revelation, Woodside has an upcoming $US10 billion investment into an LNG project in Louisiana, USA, and Hewett cheekily informs us that in a Trump-redefined America, “no protracted delays in government approvals are likely to frustrate O’Neill’s ambition there”.

Our power bills are bound to be a big issue at the upcoming federal election and I bet this delayed North West Shelf project gets a regular mention or two on the campaign trail.

The godfather of US right-wing politics, former President Ronald Reagan once said this about what he’s learnt over years in politics: “ Government is like a baby. An alimentary canal with a big appetite at one end and no sense of responsibility at the other."

And when it came to politicians, he noted: “It has been said that politics is the second oldest profession. I have learned that it bears a striking resemblance to the first.”