Gas price surge will kill jobs, Qenos warns

PLASTICS maker Qenos warns it will lay off workers if gas prices do not come down.

Chief executive Stephen Ball also says the company’s Chinese owners are “shaking their heads” at the state of the nation’s energy market, which has damaged Australia’s attractiveness to foreign investors.

“One of the things Australia has enjoyed over a long period is a very high reputation as being a stable environment to invest in but our shareholders are shaking their heads now,” Mr Ball said of gas prices.

“The impact is going to be jobs and it is going to be significant across industry.”

The warning from one of Victoria’s largest manufacturers has been delivered as fed- eral and state energy ministers gather to consider adopting the recommendations of the Finkel Review into the electricity market.

Among its 50 recommendation is for onshore gas projects to be assessed on a caseby-case basis and for a new clean energy target to be adopted.

Qenos operates the nation’s only polyethylene plants, at Altona in Melbourne and Botany in Sydney, employing 1000 workers and contractors.

It uses gas as both an input item to make plastic and to power its plants.

Mr Ball said its gas bill had blown out by “many millions of dollars” over the past year.

“If some relief isn’t found pretty soon then that is clearly going to have an impact on the business and on jobs,” he said.