Growing calls for an East Coast gas reservation policy to ensure supply

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Australia's soaring gas prices have been blamed for a growing list of manufacturers closing. As the government reviews the gas market the boss of one of Australia’s biggest manufacturers has joined calls for an east coast gas reservation policy to ensure affordable and reliable supply.

Transcript

00:00Manufacturers like this are becoming a dying breed.

00:07The sector says high gas prices are to blame.

00:10Four to five years ago we were paying about five to six dollars a gigajoule for gas.

00:15We're now paying around 15.

00:18A growing list of manufacturers have already shut down.

00:22Australian manufacturing is at a dangerous crossroad.

00:25Now the boss of Blue Scope Steel warns Australia risks repeating the United Kingdom's industrial decline

00:33if the Federal Government fails to fix the broken gas market.

00:37How did we become one of the world's largest exporters of LNG?

00:41Providing the energy that our trading partners need

00:44while effectively starving domestic industry of a key input.

00:48Calls for a fair gas price come after another energy intensive manufacturer

00:53was given another bailout.

00:55This time $600 million from the Federal and Queensland governments.

01:00Securing this asset is an important part of securing a future made in Australia.

01:05The Queensland smelters owner Glencore

01:08partly blaming high energy prices for its financial woes.

01:12The manufacturing sector is calling for a gas reservation policy

01:16to lock in affordable and reliable supply on the East Coast.

01:21They also want a mechanism to ensure prices are kept below $10 a gigajoule.

01:27If Australia reserved just one-third of its current East Coast gas production,

01:32it would be sufficient to meet expected residential and commercial demand,

01:36industrial decarbonisation needs

01:39and gas peaking generation to help firm renewables.

01:44Without it, the sector warns there will be no future made in Australia.

01:48map.

01:50under Mack finals

01:54water

01:57Australia

01:58on the North

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