As we know, the Albanese government is an inveterate liar on most matters of economics.
Today, he adds to the ignominious record.
Albanese said the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism, which enables the government to pressure exporters to release more domestic gas when needed, was working sufficiently.
“The spot price is at $13. When we were elected it was $30, it’s a bit lower than $30. We’ve taken action, we’ve increased supply and what we have done is work those issues through,” he said.
“The future of our energy supply in Australia is renewables, but backed up by firming capacity of gas, hydro and batteries,” he told Insiders.
How can the ADGSM (an LNP policy) be working if it has never been used?
Ablo could have used it when he was elected. The gas price was going berserk during the last election, and it kept going up for months afterwards while Resources Minister Mad King refused to use it and disappeared onto oil rigs so she couldn’t be questioned about why.
Even when the ALP did move far too late, it didn’t use the ADGSM. It used the Gas Code of Conduct with a $12Gj price cap that was utterly useless because it never applied to the spot gas market, the price that determines electricity prices.
Hence, the gas price never got anywhere near $12Gj again on an average moving basis.
The local gas price basically just followed the global price up and down again, but a Ukraine War premium was built in permanently.
As the AEMO made clear a few weeks ago, the only reason the Aussie gas balance hasn’t turned to outright crisis is that the price is so high that it has hollowed out the economy and triggered demand destruction, especially under Albo, so how is it that the ADGSM has worked with low enough prices?
Finally, why has Ablo spent $7bn on electricity bill rebates if the ADGSM is working?
Fair dunkum. If a pollie claimed the moon was made of cheese to benefit an Aussie cartel, the AFR would report it as fact.
