Joint submission by Australian Industry Group, Australian Workers' Union, Australian Conservation Foundation and Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS)

Our organisations welcome the opportunity to contribute to the Inquiry into the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026 (the Bill), the Domestic Gas Reservation (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2026 (the consequential amendments) and related Bills.

We disagree on many issues, but on a domestic gas reservation we are united, because a credible reservation can serve the interests of Australia's workers, businesses, households and the environment alike. A credible reservation will be one that achieves its overarching objectives of lower prices and energy security for domestic users, and which does so through the supply of gas from existing sources.

The Bill and consequential amendments reflect many improvements to the Exposure Draft Bills circulated in September. Our organisations commend the Government for its responsiveness and its constructive approach to these issues.

These significant improvements notwithstanding, there are still some weaknesses in the current incarnation of the Bills. These are few in number and very fixable. If not fixed they carry the risk that the scheme will be gamed and undermined, potentially to the point of hampering the efficacy of the reservation as a whole.

To address these issues, we recommend to the Committee the modest amendments outlined in this submission.