Albanese calls Dutton a copycat but won’t say who he gets his ideas from

Labor has countered the Coalition on its vow to force gas exporters to reserve more fuel for the domestic market, saying it will use an existing law to ensure supplies for households and industry.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the existing law, passed at the end of 2022 over Coalition objections, already worked as a gas reservation plan because it gave the government the power to direct the companies when needed.

Asked if he was willing to get more gas from the exporters if needed, Albanese said: “Of course. The law provides that, most importantly, and we’ve acted.”

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says Labor’s gas plan will do far more to reduce costs than the Coalition’s.

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton said he could reduce the wholesale gas price to below $10 a gigajoule and also vowed to open up more gas fields by overcoming environmental barriers to new projects.

But the Coalition is not promising a cut to household costs and said on Sunday that it would not forecast the impact on consumer prices.

The fight over gas came as Albanese stepped up his claim that Dutton was copying policy ideas from others, naming the Coalition’s plan to cut 41,000 public service jobs as an example.

Asked on the ABC’s Insiders program on Sunday morning if he was likening Dutton to US President Donald Trump, who is also cutting public service jobs, the prime minister said: “Well, people will draw conclusions themselves when they see mass job cuts.”

But Albanese did not make a direct claim about Dutton and Trump when asked about the parallel.

“Is it helpful for Australia right now for you to be using Donald Trump as a political weapon against your opponent?” interviewer David Speers asked on Insiders.

“I’m not,” Albanese said. He claimed Dutton was copying policies from other Liberal leaders, given the Coalition’s promise of a $6 billion cut to fuel excise follows a similar plan from Scott Morrison as prime minister three years ago.

Peter Dutton sits down for lunch at a Chinese restaurant in the Brisbane suburb of Sunnybank on Saturday.Credit: James Brickwood

The argument over energy intensified on Sunday when Albanese hardened his language on gas reservation and the Coalition energy spokesman, Ted O’Brien, ruled out a promise on consumer prices.

O’Brien told Sky News he would not try to make a promise like Albanese did at the last election by claiming household electricity prices would fall by $275 – a forecast that proved wrong.

“We will not be doing what Labor did and making a promise about a $275 reduction in household power bills or anything like that,” he said.

Albanese side-stepped questions on Sunday about whether he would extend Labor’s $75 per quarter energy bill subsidy beyond December.

On another household cost, the Coalition said it would review its cut to fuel excise after the first year, holding out the prospect of more help.

The Coalition claimed it would reduce the wholesale gas price from $14 to $10 or lower per gigajoule, but the most recent figures from the Australian Energy Regulator show that average prices have been below $14 in recent months.

The regulator said the average price was $12.17 in Victoria in the financial year to date, compared to $13.12 in Sydney, $13.67 in Brisbane and $13.16 in Adelaide.

Dutton said the election would turn on the key question of trust on the economy.

“We’ve got a big gas policy out there which will bring down the price of gas and electricity, and I think it’s about who you trust to manage the economy, and who do you trust to keep our country safe,” he told radio station 2GB on Sunday morning.

“And they’ll be the test that I think people apply ultimately, and the things that will decide the next election.”

The Coalition said it would release the economic modelling to explain the impact of its gas plan to reserve more supply for the domestic market without forcing gas exporters to break existing contracts with customers in markets such as Japan, South Korea and China.

“We honour those foundation contracts, but there’s a lot of gas that gets sold into the international market beyond that which we think should be put back into the domestic market,” Dutton told 2GB.

“And we’re requiring the companies to do that. We’re requiring them to do it at the cost of production effectively.”

Albanese said the government’s price caps on coal and gas in December 2022 – a law the Coalition voted against – had helped to reduce the spot price for gas from $30 per gigajoule.

“We secured six times more gas than what Peter Dutton committed to securing,” he said.

“All it is, is essentially a search for a distraction from his $600 billion nuclear plan.”

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