Labor has been coy about exactly how a scheme to set aside gas for Australians will affect energy prices, as it backs away from its most stringent demands on the resource’s producers.
Australian gas suppliers will now only need to offer up to one fifth of their exports to the domestic market under the proposed reservation scheme, rather than a mandatory 20 per cent originally floated in May, with no floor to be enforced.
The move would still put “downward pressure” on energy bills for the roughly 5.1 million homes and heavy industry powered by gas, but Energy Minister Chris Bowen did not say what kind of windfall Australians could expect.
“We’re not setting a price target, floor, ceiling – this is about supply, not price,” Mr Bowen told reporters on Thursday.
“Our analysis and the analysis of industry shows us that this policy is what gives us the best chance of having gas at competitive prices.”
