Manufacturing Australia: Statement on Federal Government gas policy review.

News | 6 August 2019

By showing the courage to reform Australia’s gas market, the Morrison Government has an opportunity to power a resurgence in Australian manufacturing, get gas prices down for Australian households and make renewable energy more reliable.

Manufacturing Australia urges State Governments in Eastern Australia to work with the Federal Government towards a model for East Coast gas reservation, and to support a stronger Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism as part of a bridge to new supply coming online.

The Queensland and WA Governments have already proven that when you allow exploration and production, while reserving gas for manufacturing you can have the best of all worlds: gas for export, gas for domestic industry and gas for power generation.

The lowest-cost, lowest-emissions, least-disruptive way to solve the east coast gas challenge is to develop new gas, close to customers, and reserve that gas for domestic customers.

Fixing Eastern Australia’s gas market is fundamental to the future of Australian manufacturing.

Today manufacturers in eastern Australia pay, on average, 150 per cent more for gas and 175 per cent more for electricity than they did a decade ago. In the US, manufacturers pay around 63 per cent less for gas and 30 per cent less for electricity because gas has transformed energy competitiveness in that country, and underpinned a manufacturing revival in the process.

If we want to power a resurgence in Australian manufacturing – a sector that employs almost 1 million people, accounts for about a quarter of private sector R&D and contributes around $100 billion to the economy each year – then there is no more important task than reforming the domestic gas market.

Contact

Ben Eade
02 6198 3285