Why Aussie households will have a $230 Christmas bonus locked in today

Australians need “urgent, targeted and meaningful action” to ease some of the pain from unsustainable rises in energy prices, says Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

The government has introduced its bill to tackle unfair and rising gas prices and give households and small businesses some relief from rising energy bills.

Parliamentarians and senators were called to Canberra for a special session of parliament on Thursday to discuss the government package.

She will navigate through both chambers after Anthony Albanese secured Senate support from the Greens, David Pocock and Jacqui Lambie Network.

Opposition leader Peter Dutton has confirmed that the Coalition will not support the bill, saying it would be “catastrophic” for Australian economic policy.

Once approved, gasoline prices will be capped at $12 a gigajoule for 12 months.

The government says this will slash energy bills by around $230.

The Queensland and NSW governments will also cap coal for the same amount of time, at $125 per tonne.

The package also includes $1.5 billion in additional aid for small businesses and some households.

The bill also contains a controversial code of conduct.

In exchange for support from the Greens, Labor will include a “significant and substantial package” in the May budget that will focus on “electrification” and help low-income households and renters to keep gas in their homes.

Introducing the bill in the House on Thursday morning, Dr Chalmers said that without urgent market intervention in the coming financial year, retail gas prices are expected to rise by a further 20 per cent and electricity prices by 36 percent.

“That is why urgent action is needed… And when we vote today, every member of this place will make a decision,” he said.

‘To help Australians with rising energy bills, or to make it even harder for them.

‘To save Australian jobs, or hand them over.

“We choose to protect homes and small businesses. We choose to defend our local industries. And we chose to save local jobs.’

Dr. Chalmers said the price cap should come as no surprise to the industry, given that the average price for domestic bids in 2021 was $9.20 per gigajoule.

The maximum price will be reviewed in mid-2023.

Gas executives had met Prime Minister Anthony Albanese earlier in the week and warned that the unprecedented intervention measures would freeze investment and exacerbate an energy crisis.

Woodside CEO Meg O’Neill said the legislation creates “tremendous uncertainty” for the industry.

Dutton had earlier called on the government to split the bill, saying that while the Coalition supported the $1.5 billion package, it rejected the gasoline price ceiling.

He confirmed on Thursday morning that the Coalition would not support the bill unless it split, which the government will not.

Dr Chalmers said the mandatory gas market code would address “systemic problems” in the market.

“The purpose is to ensure that a fair and transparent process is applied in the negotiation of gas contracts,” he said.

On the $1.5 billion package, Dr Chalmers said states and territories would jointly fund the relief from the bill, which will be applied directly.

Earlier, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said that if the Coalition did not want to support lower energy prices, it could explain why to the Australian people.

“The opposition has made itself irrelevant by laying everything down, that’s their business,” Bowen told ABC News.

But where parliament works best is where the parties have disagreements, and we have a lot of disagreements with the Greens, but we also have areas of agreement where we can come together and work together on things. Parliament and the country are better off.

Commenting on the package the Greens have won, Dr Chalmers said the government, as well as the Greens, were “very keen” to help households switch from gas to further reduce their energy bills.

“We want to help people make significant changes at the household level to lower their bills,” he told ABC Radio.

Dr Chalmers said the government would work with the Greens to develop their package, which will be contained in the May budget.

The package has yet to be budgeted for and Greens leader Adam Bandt was unable to provide an estimate Thursday morning of how much it would cost.

Industry Minister Ed Husic said the government’s bill would ensure the survival of small manufacturers.

“We have to reduce these input costs, energy prices or we’re not going to get ahead as far as manufacturing is concerned,” he told ABC News.

“Manufacturers will say we want to do this job here, but we can’t do it if we’re worried about where gas prices are going, so we have to get that bill shock out of the system.”

On why price caps mattered, Husic said gas companies were making a profit at the expense of struggling Australians.

“We’re telling them ‘can we just strike the balance here in the national economic interest,'” he said.

“We are doing the right thing in the national economic interest.”