Election 2025: Angus Taylor’s $10 pledge on gas prices

Angus Taylor has claimed the ­Coalition’s east coast gas reservation policy will push prices below $10 per gigajoule for ‘everyone’ and that it would save, rather than spend, $45bn in taxpayer funds.

Angus Taylor at the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday. Picture: NewsWire / Martin Ollman

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Angus Taylor has claimed the ­Coalition’s east coast gas reservation policy will push prices below $10 per gigajoule for “everyone” and that it would save, rather than spend, $45bn in taxpayer funds tied up in off-balance-sheet projects by Labor.

Facing criticism that the ­Coalition’s gas reservation plan would not deliver cheaper gas in the 12-month timeframe it has promised if elected, the Opposition Treasury spokesman said the modelling to be released soon would lower the cost further than first stated.

“Sneak preview on the modelling – we’ll see that we can get it down below 10,” Mr Taylor said. “Everyone pays that. So industry, households, that’s all built into everybody’s prices.”

Mr Taylor told the National Press Club in his response to Jim Chalmers’ budget that the ­Coalition was confident on getting more gas supply in from current production.

However, gas producers this week questioned whether achieving sub-$10 gas was realistic, saying it would “be a challenge for many”. Some, such as Shell Australia chair Cecile Wake, said the Coalition’s policy could drive prices below $10 at the cost of producers. She said the policy would “potentially push more supply into the market than there is actual demand … and when that happens, it has the effect of potentially driving prices even lower than the $10 [a gigajoule].”

The Coalition has essentially adopted a similar scheme to former West Australian premier Alan Carpenter’s in 2006, although the deals to lock up domestic supply in that state were made before final investment decisions had been made on major energy projects, and customer supply contracts had been signed by the energy providers. Mr Taylor’s policy is aimed at current, not new, production.

Labor’s policy, which is not a reservation, but a cap on gas prices, leaves the cost at $12 a gigajoule.

Mr Taylor also came under pressure on Wednesday to commit to reducing federal budget deficits out to 2030 by more than the Labor government had forecast.

“Yes, of course. We need stronger budgets, and that’s why we’ve opposed over $100bn of unnecessary Labor spending at this time,” he said.

However, part of the $100bn in savings comes from ­clawing back funding allocated to Labor’s $19bn Rewiring the Nation program and other off-balance-sheet “investments” such as the $10bn Housing Australia Future Fund, parts of which may need to be kept.

“You can say that’s all off budget, but there are also interest costs associated with it, which are absolutely on budget, and many of the other initiatives are also, also on budget,” Mr Taylor said. “If it doesn’t need to be spent, it shouldn’t be.” He said basic fiscal rules for budgets had to be restored after Labor had removed them in their first term of government.