Australia must ‘have the guts’ to stand up to Japanese companies reselling gas for profit, Husic says

Labor backbencher is calling for drastic intervention to secure supplies for the east coast

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The Labor backbencher Ed Husic is demanding an intervention to combat Japanese gas companies re-selling Australian exports to other markets, breaking ranks from the government and risking diplomatic blowback from Tokyo.

The former industry minister said the government must send a powerful signal" to overseas multinationals, in particular in Japan, to stop playing us off as mugs" by profiting off the resale of Australian gas while households and industry on the east coast face high prices and potential supply shortages.