Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I have not received advice directly from the minister for agriculture on this issue, but what the government has done is commission a number of reports from the Australian Energy Market Operator and the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission in the past few years to assess the kinds of impacts that Senator Chisholm has raised. In particular, in early, I believe, 2016 the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission produced a report about the potential for higher gas prices to flow through to other industries, including commercial and industrial industries like those that produce fertilisers. At the time, the ACCC said that markets were working and no further action was needed, but last year in the gas supply opportunities report the Australian Energy Market Operator identified a deficit in gas markets, and that's why we have taken action to introduce the domestic security gas mechanism, which gives the Australian government the potential to allow more gas to stay domestically, provide more gas to manufacturers like Incitec Pivot and ultimately protect those jobs in our manufacturing sector.