Energy Minister Chris Bowen has launched a contemporary assault on the fuel trade, as he defends the federal government’s unprecedented deal to cap enter costs to sort out the power disaster.
On Friday, the federal authorities sealed a take care of state and territory leaders to instantly cap fuel costs at $12 a gigajoule and coal costs at $125 a tonne for 12 months.
In addition, the plan will ship $1.5 billion in rebates to susceptible Australians, and impose a code of conduct.
Parliament can be recalled on Thursday to take care of the laws, which the opposition says they won’t assist.
Business and trade insiders have additionally criticised the package deal, and warned value caps might adversely impact funding.
Mr Bowen, talking with Sky News on Sunday, mentioned he didn’t discover complaints from the Australian Petroleum Production and Exploration Association “convincing in the slightest”.
“This argument really goes to say we believed we need profits as high as we can get during a war, during a global energy crisis for our industry to be viable. Nobody is going to believe that because it’s just not true,” Mr Bowen mentioned.
“This is Australian gas on Australian soil, and Australians should pay a fair price but they shouldn’t be paying a wartime price.”
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton says the federal government’s intervention can be “catastrophic” for the power market, which opposition spokesperson for power Ted O’Brien additionally reiterated on Sunday.
“Our view in opposition is exactly the same as it was when we were in government. We need to keep prices down, the lights on, and investment coming in,” Mr O’Brien advised Sky News.
“The problem here is not a difference in opinion about the need for industries to have cheap energy or households to have cheap energy. The difference in our view is how you go about doing it.
“The government said they had a plan, that’s already failed. Now they’re coming up with a new plan and I’m telling you it will fail.”
Mr Bowen questioned what the opposition would do if that they had the ability.
“These are Australian resources that should be available to Australians. I want to know why Peter Dutton and Ted O’Brien think that these prices more than doubling is okay,” Mr Bowen mentioned.
“What’s their plan? Would they stand aside and do absolutely nothing?”
Mr O’Brien mentioned the federal government’s blatant opposition to nuclear energy, which Mr Bowen says is “the most expensive form of energy” would exacerbate the issue down the road.
“Labor’s approach right now is not working,” he mentioned.
“We have 33 countries in the world right now for whom nuclear energy stacks up economically. We know another 50 countries are looking at introducing nuclear energy because it stacks up and provides a 24/7 baseload technology.
“Other countries that have studied this say renewables work with nuclear energy and nuclear stacks up.”
