Labor backbencher Ed Husic has called for stronger action to prevent foreign countries that buy Australian gas from onselling it to other countries and for Australia to “assert ourselves”, a position that is at odds with the resources minister.\u00a0<\/p>\n
The former minister told the ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that Australia was paying “extraordinary prices for an Australian resource”, partly blaming “a lot of foreign multinationals that are on a great deal” who onsell gas to other countries rather than using it domestically.<\/p>\n
He said a “use it or lose it” mechanism should be introduced, including for existing contracts between gas producers and foreign countries.<\/p>\n
“Japan has done this four consecutive years in a row where they have onsold Australian gas while telling us we should not have a right to intervene,” Mr Husic said.<\/p>\n
“They are not using it for themselves and just profiting \u2026 profiting from that gas while we are struggling, and we have manufacturers like BlueScope Steel, Dulux and others trying to get access to competitively priced gas.<\/p>\n
“That is an issue and we should assert ourselves.”<\/p>\n
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\u00a0Madeleine King says energy exports make Australia relevant in the region. (Supplied: Rio Tinto)<\/p>\n
Mr Husic’s comments put him at odds with Resources Minister Madeleine King, who last year dismissed concerns that Japan was seeking to purchase gas primarily to “profiteer off gas and onsell it”, describing it as a “peak conspiracy theory”.<\/p>\n
“Gas to Japan is exported out of Darwin and Western Australia. So if the argument is somehow if we stopped exporting gas to Japan from Western Australia and Northern Territory that it would suddenly become available to shore up supplies in the east coast, well, that is just manifestly incorrect \u2026 that’s not a joined-up system,” she told Radio National in June last year.<\/p>\n
Ms King also told the Australian Financial Review this week that Australia’s gas exports had been a positive during regional security discussions, as the government seeks to assure its trading partners that any future east gas reserve would have a minimal impact on existing contracts.<\/p>\n