Coalition’s gas plan unlikely to lower prices and could push up greenhouse gas emissions, experts say

The Coalition wants to increase the use of gas and keep coal plants running while it builds taxpayer-funded nuclear reactors. Photograph: Denis Torkhov/Getty Images

Energy experts have expressed doubts the Coalition’s plans to force gas producers to sell more of the fossil fuel domestically could bring down prices or ease supply pressures, saying the move could also push up greenhouse gas emissions.

In his budget-reply speech, delivered only 12 hours before Anthony Albanese announced a federal election for 3 May, the Coalition leader, Peter Dutton, said that, if elected, his government would deliver an “east coast gas reservation”.