National

NSW seek details of coal price cap plan

By AAP Newswire

Dec 6, 2022

Ahead of a key energy meeting between federal, state and territory leaders, NSW Treasurer Matt Kean is calling on the prime minister to provide a detailed plan for a potential cap on coal prices.

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The National Cabinet meeting is due to go ahead virtually this Friday after being postponed when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese announced he had come down with COVID for a second time.

Mr Kean said it didn't matter when or how the meeting was held as long as state and territory ministers had a plan to consider ahead of time.

"We need to see the detail of the Commonwealth's plan to solve this national problem (and) to see the modelling about how we'll keep prices down," Mr Kean told ABC Radio.

"We haven't seen anything yet."

Mr Kean said the Commonwealth needed to come up with a national solution to a national problem, as the east coast had an interconnected electricity grid.

"We can't play whack-a-mole in energy policy, solving a problem in one state only for it to pop up in another," he said.

A proposal to put a price cap on coal would be supported by the NSW government but Mr Kean said his federal counterparts must provide compensation to taxpayers in his state to ensure they were not affected by lost royalties.

"The Commonwealth is yet to put a single dollar on the table to help with energy costs," Mr Kean said.

"We stand ready to work with the Commonwealth to protect energy consumers in NSW ... we want to see whatever it takes to protect families and businesses."