As the Federal Opposition's unofficial election campaign gains momentum the Labor party is beginning to uncover such revelations, such as the $30 million government grant. Fitzgibbon said Prime Minister Howard's crony capitalism was costing Australian taxpayers again.

Syntroleum obtained the backing of the Industry and Resources Department with the promise of a $900 million gas project in Western Australia, named Sweetwater, which never eventuated.

The government had offered the company $30 million worth of investment incentives, which has now collected $2.3 million in interest on Australian taxpayers money held in escrow.

The matter was uncovered during the recent sitting of the Senate Estimates committee and Industry Department officials have now admitted there is no chance Syntroleum's Sweetwater project can ever proceed in accordance with the terms of its agreement with the Commonwealth.

Four years ago yesterday, John Howard announced that the Commonwealth of Australia had agreed to acquire a technology license for Syntroleum's proprietary gas-to-liquids (GTL) technology for $30 million and had approved a technology loan for another $40 million.

Fitzgibbon said so far Australian taxpayers have lost $15 million on the deal and the Department was unable to answer questions in Senate Estimates about how the technology can be used or sold and by whom. $3.5 million has been paid in withholding tax, which Fitzgibbon said Syntroleum has withdrawn and there is another $31.5 million held in two accounts, one of which is held in Syntroleum's name.

It will not be known until after 31st August this year whether the government can get the money back, although it remains optimistic.

In the four years since backing was announced for the plan Sasol commenced construction of a $900 million Gas To Liquids (GTL) plant in Qatar last year and in October Shell announced a further $5 billion GTL investment for Qatar.

Fitzgibbon added that in April 2002, Federal Resources Minister Macfarlane told the industry eight significant GTL projects were eyeing Australia as the location for their new technology with a potential investment of almost $17 billion. The government was now assisting two GTL projects - Methanex and Syntroleum's Sweetwater - both of them have fallen over.