Re-watching some of a motion from this morning that I missed while watching press conferences (I am but two eyes, two ears and two unco hands) Labor MP Ed Husic had some things to say about gas.

Husic sais that he agreed that Australians deserved “a gas market that is predictable and reliable, affordable and transparent”.

It is not a radical proposition,” he said.

“But right now our gas system defies even the gravity of basic economic logic. The consequences are felt in households, factories and businesses across the country. We face a projected seasonal gas shortfall by 2028 – not because we don’t have enough gas, but because the gas that comes from beneath Australian soil is prioritised for customers offshore, rather than customers onshore.

Pre-pandemic gas prices sat around $3 to $4 a gigojoule. Today, it is around $10.30. When I said our gas prices defy the gravity of conventional economics, I mean this; domestic gas demand has actually fallen but the supply has been shunted off shore and that is largely why prices haven’t fallen.

The market is fundamentally distorted.

Husic said his government has been the first to tackle some of that distortion, even as the Coalition rejected the intervention into the gas market, and the industry cried foul.

Husic went on to say that “predictable voices will tell you, ‘all we need is more supply’. That’s misleading. We need supply at the right prices.”

He said that the contracts manufacturers are forced to sign with gas companies undercut their ability to do business and a “complete re think” was needed to ensure “Australian resources” serve “Australian interests”.

In this country it is almost as if we are embarrassed at possessing so much resources and calls for controls over gas companies being able to sell uncontracted gas overseas at the expense of the domestic market.