All he had to do was keep saying, ‘I’ll lower the cost of everything.’
Instead, he has hatched the most disastrously inflationary energy policy I have ever seen.
Peter Dutton said gas “will be incredibly important” for the grid and insisted he is eager accelerate new projects such a Narrabri in NSW to ensure more supply comes to market.
“There’s lots of gas required,” he said on Tuesday.
“We’ve spoken about discovering more fields and we’re strongly supportive of condensing the timelines.”
Nationals leader David Littleproud on Tuesday indicated that a new gas strategy was “exactly what we’ll be announcing” to bring downward pressure on energy bills for households.
“When you look at it in a commonsense way, the only way that you can reduce bills is to increase supply and the only way you can do that quickly, is to bring on gas and bring gas on quickly into the market,” Mr Littleproud told Sky.
…Among measures the Coalition is understood to be considering are a series of “carrots and sticks” to encourage gas giants to bring more supply to the domestic market in return for lighter-touch regulation.
This may include de-fanging the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism to incentivise more investment in new wells.
LMAO. Yes, I am laughing hysterically because there is no other valid response.
LNG imports begin later this year. No ‘drill, bay drill’ policy can avert it. Only triggering the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism (ADGSM) can prevent it, forcing the QLD gas export cartel to leave more gas at home.
The moment these imported volumes hit the local market, the QLD gas export cartel will further restrict local supply and boost exports until the local gas spot price reaches import parity, which is double today’s price.
This will also double the wholesale electricity price, given gas is the marginal price setter.
It will look like the following for your bills in 2026/27.
For gas, notice that your bill has already expanded by 400% in twenty years, and Dutton policies will make that 800% overnight:
For electricity, note that federal and state government bill subsidies have actually dropped the average electricity bill (much more in QLD and WA than in other states). Dutton has committed to removing the rebates, so he is planning a double price shock.
In return for Dutton’s energy hairshirt force donned onto every Australian east of WA, the LNP is planning on removing the one policy mechanism it has—the ADGSM—that can prevent an energy inflation shock so bad that it is worse than COVID and the Ukraine War combined.
Sure, international LNG supply is going to grow into 2027/28, and prices come down some. But that’s too late. Imported gas will have already reset the local price deck.
This isn’t policy. It isn’t Trumpism. It isn’t in the national interest. It isn’t in the LNP’s interest. It isn’t planning. It isn’t sane.
It is doing favours for Gina Rinehart and Andrew Forrest. As their iron ore firm’s revenue collapses in 2026/27, their gas firm’s revenue will soar by gang-raping the East Coast economy amid a cratering AUD.
They will be fine, but you will not be, as the shock triggers rate hikes directly into a monstrous convergence of iron ore and gas income shocks.
And the long-awaited housing crash will begin.
