LABOR-GREENS SNEAKY DEAL ON COAL AND GAS MEANS MORE PAIN FOR INDUSTRY AND FAMILIES

The Opposition Shadow Minister for Industry, Sussan Ley and the Shadow Minister for Resources, Senator Susan McDonald, have slammed the secret Labor-Greens alliance that will hurt Australian jobs and families.

Deputy Leader of the Opposition and Shadow Minister for Industry, Skills and Training, Sussan Ley said Labor have made a desperate, dodgy deal with the Greens which will prohibit coal or gas from receiving finance from their National Reconstruction Fund.

“Every expert in the country is calling on the Prime Minister to unlock more supply of gas, but today’s desperate, dodgy deal with the Greens is another demonstration that this Government is utterly unable to deliver policies that would bring affordable and reliable energy,” the Deputy Leader said.

“Just, today we have seen that benchmark power prices for hundreds of thousands of Australians are set to rise by more than 20 per cent within months, this dodgy deal will make that worse and Australians will pick up the bill.

“This is a bad bill that has become even worse – we will fight Labor’s recklessness all the way to the Senate, then to the election and beyond,” she said.

“The resources and forestry industries have been singled out for prohibition in this Fund, a damning indictment on the priorities of this bad Labor government.”

Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald, has warned heavy industry, miners, manufacturers and other high energy users to brace for more pain after Labor and the Greens sealed a sneaky deal to ban funding for new coal and gas projects.

“What we are witnessing is a Government so intent on implementing its damaging radical agenda that it is willing to join forces with the Greens to effectively outlaw Australians’ ability to access the resources we need to firm up renewable generators and to heat their homes,” she said.

“This sneaky Albanese government has declared war on our resources sector from day one, saying one thing to industry and another thing to his Cabinet.

“The Prime Minister stood up at a business lunch on Tuesday and said ‘gas must play a key role in the transition to clean energy’, but just two days later, Labor’s actions put lie to their words.

“You have to really feel for the Resources Minister – the moment she travels overseas, the Industry Minister sneaks in and bans coal and gas.

“This comes after repeated damaging gas and coal price interventions and attacks on her portfolios from the Environment, Industry and Energy Ministers layering law after law that has crippled investment confidence in this country and resulted in soaring power bills.

“This is not the first time Labor has done a sneaky deal with the Greens to ban funding for coal and gas, with Commonwealth Agencies, including Infrastructure Australia and the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, having their investment mandates hamstrung late last year.

“Any attack on resources is an attack on Northern Australian jobs and manufacturing. Regional communities and family businesses in the North rely on a strong resources sector, and manufacturers need access to reliable, dispatchable power.

“But Labor would rather do sneaky deals and lie to the Australian people to impose its selfish agenda.”