TURNBULL GOVERNMENT IN DENIAL ABOUT THEIR CONTINUING ENERGY CRISIS

New reports today confirm what business leaders and families already know; the Turnbull Government continues to fail to address the nation’s energy crisis.

After declaring the Government’s handshake agreement with gas exporters had solved the gas crisis, today we learn large industrial gas users are still unable to secure affordable gas supply contracts.

Companies moving from gas contracts at $4 to $6 per gigajoule are being forced to accept contracts between $14 to $16 per gigajoule, costing profitability and jobs. Mr Richards, the head of the Energy Users Association of Australia, likens it to industrial manufacturers effectively ‘‘working for the gas companies.’’

This shouldn’t be a surprise to anyone, as the Government’s own experts warned the handshake agreement with gas companies would be ineffective and would “result in some users exiting the market, resulting in a loss of jobs and economic output.”

At the same time, large industrial users are citing increases in electricity prices from 4.5¢-per-kilowatt-hour to 13¢-15¢ per kilowatt hour, a jump of over 200 per cent in electricity prices.

Even though the Government continues to attack renewable energy as the cause of rising bills, their lies are being exposed with large industrial energy users investing in renewable energy to lower their power bills.

Malcolm Turnbull and Josh Frydenberg are so out of touch they are still insisting they have solved the energy crisis, with a handshake agreement with gas companies and a National Energy Guarantee that has no detail and promises to strangle the very renewable investment that can and should deliver price relief.

As the Australian Financial Review reports today, “Government and regulatory efforts to rein in runaway energy bills appear to have had little impact.”

Australia has been waiting for over four years for this Government to deliver effective energy policy. Against all the evidence, the Turnbull Government has convinced itself the job is done.

Australians know handshake agreements with gas companies and attacks on the cheapest and cleanest form of new electricity generation won’t deliver affordable, reliable or clean energy.

It is perfectly clear that Australian businesses and households will only see credible, effective energy policy with a new Labor Government.