Al-anwar Newspaper English news in Australia
The Prime Minister has reportedly issued demands to two states after the premiers called for compensation on coal price caps that would bring relief to Australian households struggling with energy bills.
Anthony Albanese has told two states to impose its own price caps after the premiers flagged the need for compensation over fears about lost royalties.
The Prime Minister told New South Wales and Queensland on Tuesday about a proposal to introduce its own caps rather than the Commonwealth, The Australian reports.
He also suggested parliaments be recalled to enact them to give Australian families some confidence about energy bills lowering heading into Christmas.
Mr Albanese is believed to be confident of brokering a deal on coal and gas before December 25 but households are not expected to feel relief until the middle of 2023.
The government is also yet to finalise regulations that will target the profits of domestic gas sales, which will cap prices under a floating mechanism.
However, Queensland Senator Matt Canavan warned on Wednesday price caps “never work” and argued they will lead to shortages.
“It’s an absurd situation we’ve got ourselves in here. And we really are going way, way back to the bad old days of trying to cap prices,” he told the Today show.
“Price caps always just lead to shortages. And a shortage in the electricity market, there’s a word for that, it is called a blackout.
So, I think we’ve got to be much more careful here about securing our supplies of energy and making sure we keep lights on because we’re trying to for people to sell stuff below the market price.”
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has been concerned about its royalties over the coal price cap, but it was revealed on Wednesday the government will deliver $2.95 billion in 2022-2023 – almost four times what it forecasted in June – due to higher rates.
National Cabinet was set to meet on Wednesday to discuss energy prices and caps but that has been delayed till Friday after Mr Albanese tested positive to COVID-19.
The Prime Minister defended the push back on Tuesday and stressed there would be no immediate relief even if they met on the scheduled day.
“What the default market offer that will occur is expected to be in February,” he said.
“So what we’re looking at is trying to act before Christmas, which is what we said we would do so that there’s no actual delay in anything except the formal meeting.”
The Coalition has continued to lash the government over its failure to intervene earlier and failing to pass on the election promise of $275 cheaper power bills.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said Labor had flagged numerous alternatives including super profits taxes, gas reserve triggers and price caps, but had still not provided any clarity to Australian consumers.
“There have been more kites flown in the last couple of months than a kite festival, who knows where Labor’s actually going to land here I don’t actually understand what they’re proposing,” Mr Taylor told Sky News Australia.
“What we’ve seen though is a prime minister who said he wasn’t going to waste a day; he’s wasted six months running around in circles flying kites, annoying the states with a complete lack of clarity not having anyone understand where he was going.
“Labor has got itself in a knot, it doesn’t understand business, and it doesn’t understand energy and guess who pays for that? Australians.”
The federal budget in October forecasted energy prices will rise by an average of 20 per cent at the end of this year and another 30 per cent in 2023.
Mr Albanese has repeatedly stood by his election promise of slashing bills by $275 and pointed to the RepuTex model, which he stands by.
