Australia needs to limit gas exports to ease the energy crisis in the country’s eastern states, former Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull told ABC TV on Monday.
“They should make sure whatever gas we need is available here… We have a crisis at the moment… they [the government] should be decisive today as I was,” Turnbull said.
The former PM suggested that the state and local authorities should coordinate to “impose on a temporary basis both export volume and price controls on gas” for 90 days.
Turnbull’s words came mere hours after Australia’s energy regulator stepped in to cap soaring electricity prices in the state of Queensland. Late Sunday, the Australian Energy Market Operator (AEMO) capped Queensland wholesale prices at $300 per megawatt-hour after a spike over the past seven days amid outages at some coal-fired plants.