Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has released modelling on his gas price policy. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
Peter Dutton has released details of his domestic gas policy, saying his plan would see household gas bills drop 7 per cent and their electricity bills by 3 per cent.
Industrial gas bills would drop by 15 per cent.
Householders would see the financial benefits of the Coalition’s new policy by the end of this year.
The policy was first flagged in the Opposition Leader’s budget reply speech a day before the federal election was called.
He has now released modelling by Frontier Economics that estimates new domestic gas supplies could lower prices from $14 a gigajoule to $10 under the plan.
The modelling estimates a 23 per cent reduction in wholesale gas prices and a 3 per cent reduction in residential electricity prices.
The Coalition’s east coast gas reservation policy would impose a gas security charge on gas exporters and force them to divert up to 100 petajoules of their supply from the global energy market to the domestic market.
“We sit on some of the most abundant gas reserves in the world — it’s time we unlocked those resources to lower prices, protect jobs and power Australia,” Mr Dutton said.
“Gas is critical to our nation’s energy future. By making the gas companies put more of our Aussie gas into our market instead of exporting it, we will get the price of gas down by 15 per cent.
“Our policy will be a game-changer because we can then see the cost and therefore price of electricity, construction, food prices and many other goods start to come down.”
The Opposition Leader acknowledged that some of the big energy companies were not happy with the policy, but he was focused on bringing energy bills down.
When asked to comment on Mr Dutton’s gas policy, Anthony Albanese ridiculed it, dismissing it as another Opposition announcement that shouldn’t be believed.
“Well, the only gas policy that the Coalition have is gaslighting the Australian public,” the Prime Minister said.
“Gas prices were $30 when we came to office. They’re now $13 to $14 … I say this about gas policy. I mean, these people think that the Australian public are like goldfish, that they don’t remember.
“They went around at the time when they were in government – when 24 out of 28 coal-fired power stations announced their closure – they said they were going to have a gas-led recovery. Remember that? And nothing happened. All that happened was the gas prices reached $30 when we came to office. They’re currently $13 to $14.”
The Coalition released its gas policy modelling Tuesday evening (8 April) just as Mr Dutton and Mr Albanese were engaged in the campaign’s first leaders’ debate, in front of a live audience of 100 undecided voters and televised nationally.
Both leaders held their own during the debate, with no knockout blows but no major gaffes either.
Mr Dutton was confronted by one question from the audience over the Coalition’s plan to cut Australia’s intake of foreign university students.
The voter asked how that policy would not result in his son’s uni fees rising.
Mr Dutton replied that foreign student numbers needed to be restricted in order to reduce pressure on domestic students and to help ease the housing crisis in Australia.
The Opposition Leader had one clear win when he asked another audience member if she had to use her Medicare card or her credit card when visiting a doctor.
When the woman replied that she had to use both, Mr Dutton said that was most people’s experience and it proved the PM’s mantra that all you need is a Medicare card to be a lie.
Accusing each other of being dishonest was a hallmark of the leaders’ debate, with the word “lie” used extensively throughout the hour.
Audience members, however, voted Mr Albanese the winner on the night.
Of the 100 in attendance, 44 said the PM won and 35 said the Opposition Leader won, while 21 remained undecided.
Debate host, Kieran Gilbert of Sky News, declared the Prime Minister the winner of the campaign’s first debate.
A shadow over the debate, but not mentioned during the proceedings at all, was that Mr Dutton’s father had suffered a heart attack and was rushed to hospital shortly before it began.
He is reportedly now in a stable condition.
