Climate change and energy minister labels Coalition’s gas policy analysis a ‘scamphlet’
Adam Morton
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has criticised Frontier Economics analysis that claims the Coalition’s policy could lower gas prices, describing it as a “scamphlet”.
Giving a media conference at a Smart Energy Council conference in Sydney, Bowen brandished the 15-page report, which he said was “alleged modelling” and included only 135 words on the impact on electricity prices.
I’ve seen longer menus in a restaurant than this …[Coalition frontbencher] James Patterson told the Australian people they’ve been working on this for a year, which works out at a very low productivity rate per word.
If this is a year’s work, this is a nonsense document filled with holes.
Frontier estimated the Coalition’s policy could reduce domestic gas prices by 7% and electricity bills by 3%. The report does not include the modelling that was used to reach these figures.
Bowen said modelling of the Coalition’s nuclear proposal released in December suggested a big fall in gas usage in the energy grid, but four months later it was saying “we need more gas”.
He said Coalition frontbenchers had made contradictory claims about the impact on prices today and had “a lot of clearing up to do”.
He said:
They’ve retrofitted this document, which was clearly prepared after the budget reply.
Bowen said he was looking forward to debating the shadow minister for climate change and energy minister, Ted O’Brien, tomorrow.
Key events
Lisa Cox
NSW Forestry Corporation high court appeal dismissed
The Forestry Corporation of NSW has lost an appeal in the high court that may open the door for community groups to challenge alleged environmental breaches by the state-owned logging company and bring public interest cases involving logging of threatened species habitat in NSW to the courts.
The court dismissed forestry corporation’s argument that a section of the state’s forestry act prevented groups or individuals that met the common law test for standing from commencing legal proceedings to enforce compliance with logging laws and protect threatened wildlife.
The South East Forest Alliance described it as a “landmark judgment”.
The alliance brought the initial proceedings in the NSW land and environment court in 2024 alleging the forestry agency had failed to comply with conditions meant to protect species such as the greater glider during native forest logging operations.
Spokesperson Scott Daines said:
This judgment confirms that organisations with a deep and ongoing commitment to environmental protection can hold government-owned entities accountable to the law.
Forestry Corporation tried to shut down this case before it even began. That strategy has failed.
The NSW Greens environment spokesperson, and former environmental lawyer Sue Higginson said the decision marked the end of “a dark era” and “the end of the rule that only the Environment Protection Authority can prosecute the Forestry Corporation” for alleged environmental breaches.
She said:
The high court has now rightly opened the door for public interest cases to be brought against the continued logging in our native forests.
Guardian Australia has sought comment from the NSW Forestry Corporation.
Dutton says government won’t ‘book any revenue’ from gas policy when asked if it is constitutional
Peter Dutton has been coy when asked whether the Coalition’s gas policy would breach constitutional rules.
Dutton held a press conference in western Sydney a short time ago, alongside McMahon candidate Carmen Lazar and the opposition’s energy spokesperson, Ted O’Brien.
The opposition leader was asked whether the Coalition’s plan to make east coast LNG exporters to reserve more gas for domestic supply would apply to producers in Western Australia and, if the answer was no, if that was constitutional.
Dutton didn’t answer directly, saying:
It applies to our east coast market reservation. And we’ve been very clear about the fact that we don’t believe that we book any revenue out of that measure.
We’ve been working on this for a long time. We want to get it right, and what we do is we take away the advantage in exporting that gas, and we apply those gas producers who otherwise would have sold our gas to foreign markets to put that gas into the market here.
Now, by removing the advantage that they have in exporting the gas, we increase the supply here by 50 to 100 petajoules.
We reckon this exchange might have something to do with section 51 (iii) of the constitution, which rules out setting different levies/duties for different states on the production or export of goods.
Unlike the east coast, WA – which produces most of the country’s gas – already has rules ensuring some of it must be kept for the local market, which has kept prices in the state well below the national average.
Jordyn Beazley
PM says he will revisit environmental law reform if Labor is elected for a second term
Anthony Albanese has said he will continue to “advance” Labor’s agenda for environmental law reform if elected for a second term because it’s in the interest of both extractive industries and the environment.
The prime minister said at a press conference this morning – which was held at Sydney’s Paddy’s Markets with the environment minister, Tanya Plibersek, and the NSW premier, Chris Minns, that he was “hoping to get the numbers in the Senate this time”.
It comes after Albanese killed off a potential deal with the Greens last year to establish an environmental watchdog to manage compliance with national environmental laws after intervention from the WA premier, Roger Cook.
Albanese confirmed in March that he would revive the plan if re-elected, however, he said it would not be “the same model”.
Asked by Guardian Australia this morning about the details of the plan, and whether this commitment could be trusted after he shelved the legislation last year, Albanese responded:
We will continue to advance our agenda … I discussed with the WA Chamber of Minerals and Energy, I’ve had discussions with environmental groups, and my minister has been leading those discussions.
We know that it is in the interests of both the environment and sustainability, but also of industry [for there to be] a proper reform of an Act that is not fit for purpose that has been there since the Howard era.
We will deal with that in a second term in an appropriate, consolidated way.
Plibersek, who is also the MP for Sydney, responded to a question earlier in the press conference by claiming that people in her electorate were happy with the Albanese government’s record on the environment. She said:
When I door knock in Sydney and I talk about Labor’s record on the environment, I get a fantastic reception.
Since coming to government, we have protected an extra 100 million hectares of land and ocean in this country.
Since coming to government, we’ve added more than one million tonnes of recycling capacity to Australia.
Since coming to government, I have approved enough renewable energy to power every single home in Australia. More than 80 projects.
We’ve got a fantastic record on the environment. We’re the only party of government that is serious about acting on climate change. That’s why I get such a great response.
Graham Readfearn
Australian gas industry criticises the Coalition’s election policy
Australia’s gas industry has run the rule over the Coalition’s gas policy announced late last night, and they have come out with some heavy criticism.
The Coalition says if elected it would set limits on how much gas LNG companies can sell overseas and impose a charge to make selling gas to the domestic market more attractive.
But Australian Energy Producers chief executive, Samantha McCulloch, said the report from Frontier Economics of the Coalition’s price controls “leaves many unanswered questions about how the policy would work and reaffirms industry’s fundamental concerns”.
She said it was “yet another heavy-handed intervention that will drive away investment and risk exacerbating the supply pressures in the longer term.”
McCulloch pointed to Coalition statements in 2022 when the government introduced price caps, when shadow resources minister Susan McDonald said price caps would be a disaster and would damage domestic supply.
McCulloch said:
Rather than increasing gas supply, the Coalition’s policy risks reducing domestic gas production and supply because there would be no incentive to produce sub-economic gas, and it would damage already suppressed investor confidence.
The modelling also ignores the material infrastructure constraints that limit how much gas from Queensland can be sent to the southern states, with the pipes already running at full capacity during peak periods – a point the Coalition made less than six months ago.
Climate change and energy minister labels Coalition’s gas policy analysis a ‘scamphlet’
Adam Morton
The climate change and energy minister, Chris Bowen, has criticised Frontier Economics analysis that claims the Coalition’s policy could lower gas prices, describing it as a “scamphlet”.
Giving a media conference at a Smart Energy Council conference in Sydney, Bowen brandished the 15-page report, which he said was “alleged modelling” and included only 135 words on the impact on electricity prices.
I’ve seen longer menus in a restaurant than this …[Coalition frontbencher] James Patterson told the Australian people they’ve been working on this for a year, which works out at a very low productivity rate per word.
If this is a year’s work, this is a nonsense document filled with holes.
Frontier estimated the Coalition’s policy could reduce domestic gas prices by 7% and electricity bills by 3%. The report does not include the modelling that was used to reach these figures.
Bowen said modelling of the Coalition’s nuclear proposal released in December suggested a big fall in gas usage in the energy grid, but four months later it was saying “we need more gas”.
He said Coalition frontbenchers had made contradictory claims about the impact on prices today and had “a lot of clearing up to do”.
He said:
They’ve retrofitted this document, which was clearly prepared after the budget reply.
Bowen said he was looking forward to debating the shadow minister for climate change and energy minister, Ted O’Brien, tomorrow.
Melting moments: PM attends opening of Sydney’s Hay St Market
The prime minister didn’t seem to consider it too early in the day for ice-cream before that press conference.
Here are some photos, taken by AAP of Anthony Albanese wandering about Sydney’s Hay St Market at its official opening this morning, where he later spoke to journalists.
PM refuses to say he has spoken to Trump directly to lobby for tariff exemptions
At the same press conference, Anthony Albanese was unclear about whether he’d spoken to the US president, Donald Trump, directly to advocate for exemptions from his administration’s tariff regime. Albanese said:
What I have said very directly to President Trump [is] the United States has a trade surplus with Australia.
We have continued to make representations through the US administration. One of the ways you deal with diplomacy isn’t to do it with a loud hailer.
We had direct contact with the US administration and we’ll continue to do so. We’re in caretaker mode at the moment but we’ll continue to engage as we are through our officials.
[Treasurer] Jim Chalmers travelled directly to the US [and] met with the US treasury secretary.
But later, when asked if he had spoken to Trump himself, Albanese said:
We’ll continue to make representations to the US administration.
Albanese also sought to downplay the impact of the Trump administration’s tariffs would have on Australia, saying:
The sanctions or the tariffs that Donald Trump has put in represent an impact on the world, because the US is the world’s largest economy. But 80% of world trade does not involve the United States, there are enormous opportunities for Australia to take advantage of where we are in the world.
Building on the work that we’ve done, building up trade relationships [with] south-east Asia, building our relationship with India, continuing to build on our economic relationship with China.
Anthony Albanese says he learned about apparent super fund hack ‘when it occurred’
Anthony Albanese says he was informed about an apparent attempted hack on the superannuation fund Cbus “when it occurred”.
The prime minister has been speaking to journalists at a press conference in Sydney with the NSW premier, Chris Minns, where he was asked when he learned about the incident. Albanese replied:
When it occurred, I was informed. No, I haven’t discussed it with Wayne Swan.
Swan, a former Labor treasurer, is the chair of Cbus, a construction industry fund.
Jonathan Barrett
Trump tariff fears wipe $50bn off ASX in opening minutes
The sharp price moves on the ASX equate to more than $50bn of value being wiped from the stock market in the opening minutes of trading.
Mining companies are some of the early casualties of the drop, with BHP shares down more than 4%. Resources companies – especially those dealing in or otherwise exposed to iron ore – are particularly sensitive to any slowdown in global economic growth.
Australian share market records steep drop in opening minutes of trade
Jonathan Barrett
Australian shares have fallen by a steep 2% in the opening minutes of trading this morning, erasing yesterday’s bounce as hopes deteriorate that the world’s two largest economies will strike a trade deal.
The sharp price moves come shortly before the US is scheduled to hit China with additional tariffs, due to come into effect just after 2pm (AEST).
Taking into account past announcements, Chinese goods entering the US will face a 104% tariff as part of Donald Trump’s new trade regime. Analysts at IG warned on Wednesday that the Australian economy would be hit by the trade barrier, saying:
If China does dig in, tariffs on its imports to the US will rise to a staggering 104%, a dire outcome for Australia’s trade-dependent economy and a potential catalyst for another round of broader risk aversion.
Australia’s benchmark share index fell to below 7,350 points in the opening minutes of trading today, taking it back to the level it closed at on Monday, which was the worst trading day in almost five years.
Opposition finance spokesperson spruiks Coalition’s gas policy
The opposition’s finance spokesperson, Jane Hume, has also been talking up the Coalition’s gas policy this morning.
Speaking to Seven’s Sunrise earlier, Hume said the policy is about “keeping Aussie gas for Aussies”.
She said:
There are three ways that gas is used. It can be used in long-term contracts, it can be used for domestic supply, and it can also be traded on the spot market, using those volatile prices.
That’s where this east coast gas reserve will come from, bringing more gas into the system, it will unlock supply and bring prices down over time.
We estimate that it’s going to create around a 23% drop in wholesale gas prices that will feed through to industrial it was, to retail gas, and also to electricity prices.
What we want to see is more supply into the system, unlocking more supply, bringing prices down by putting pressure on prices down by putting pressure on prices.
Under the proposal, east coast gas producers would be forced to provide 50 to 100 additional petajoules to Australia’s east coast market – known as a gas reservation – in an attempt to bring down the average price from $14 a gigajoule to $10 a gigajoule by the end of the year.
Most of the gas produced on the east coast is exported overseas, with enough given to supply gas-fired power generation and industry, commercial and residential users in Queensland, New South Wales and Victoria.
You can read more about it here:
Peter Dutton says his father is doing well after suffering heart attack
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has said his father is doing well after suffering a heart attack right before last night’s televised leaders’ debate.
Speaking on Sydney’s Nova radio earlier this morning, Dutton said he considered pulling out of his first formal debate against Anthony Albanese, which went ahead at a Sky News event in western Sydney.
Asked this morning on Nova’s Fitzy, Wippa & Kate Ritchie show how his father was doing, Dutton said:
He’s good. I spoke to him this morning. He’s 80 this year.
He’s a great man. He’s stoic and he’s a tough old bugger. So he’ll be fine.
Dutton continued:
Look, I thought: ‘Do I pull out of the debate? Do I?’
But … my sisters were up there with him and giving me regular reports, which was good, but yeah, he’s a great man, and I love him very much.
