Power costs a job killer
Shorten says electricity price burden could lead to lay-offs
AUSTRALIA’S Opposition Leader has warned a nationwide energy crisis could become a jobs crisis, during a visit to a Geelong manufacturer battling skyrocketing energy prices.
Labor leader Bill Shorten visited explosives, industrial chemicals and fertiliser supplier Incitec Pivot yesterday to discuss rising energy prices.
“If spiralling gas and electricity prices are not tackled, the energy crisis will become a jobs crisis for Australian manufacturing,” Mr Shorten said. “This company has seen a 60 per cent increase in their energy prices here.
“No matter how hard the workers and the management of Incitec Pivot and other Australian manufacturers work, it could all be for nothing unless we deal with the energy crisis in Australia.”
Over the past 18 months energy prices at Incitec Pivot in Geelong have increased by 60 per cent, with the company expecting the trend to continue.
The company was yester- day unable to comment due to a media blackout in the leadup to the release of its full year results.
Mr Shorten yesterday urged Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull to “pull the trigger” on export controls requiring a prioritisation of the supply of Australian gas to go to Australian businesses, rather than being shipped overseas.
He said Mr Turnbull needed to give the regulator more teeth, “so that we can see more transparency, more public information for business to understand what exactly the big gas companies are price gouging and profiteering off battling manufacturing businesses in this country,” he said.
Mr Shorten was joined by Corio Labor MP Richard Marles yesterday, who warned the continuing operation of Incitec Pivot was “absolutely critical to the future of Geelong”.
“This is now the oldest continuous manufacturing site here in Geelong, and it employs about 120 people,” Mr Marles said.
“We are a city which has gone through a number of shocks when it comes to manufacturing, the loss Alcoa, the loss of Ford.
“The energy equation for how this plant operates is absolutely critical to ensuring that Incitec Pivot continues long into the future.”
Incitec Pivot in Geelong distributes about one million tonnes of fertiliser each year.
Corangamite Liberal MP Sarah Henderson yesterday said Bill Shorten had a “real cheek” visiting Geelong when he lacked the courage to demand that Daniel Andrews unlock Victoria’s conventional gas supply. of