Gas from untapped shale deposits in the outback Cooper Basin, he points out, could bring South Australia a share in the bonanza that other states are reaping from the China trade.
No one had expected another bonanza, but George Osborne, a chancellor of the exchequer who needs the cash much more than Mr Brown did, had been counting on 3.5 billion pounds.
They included the size of the potential bonanza for some of the firm's 13,000 partners-something EY's bean-counters of old would much rather have kept under their bowler hats.