Treasury backs intervention in Australian energy market to ‘quickly’ reduce prices

The statement from Treasury says interventions that ‘directly address’ domestic coal and gas prices are ‘more likely to be optimal’. Photograph: Alex Biasiato/Getty Images/EyeEm

Treasury has backed government intervention in the energy market, saying it would support a move to “quickly and directly” reduce prices to help households and businesses struggling with soaring inflation.

In a Senate estimates hearing on Tuesday, Luke Yeaman, a deputy secretary in Treasury, said that while the department would normally support staying out of the market to allow “helpful adjustment” in response to price signals, the war in Ukraine had shifted its thinking.