Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has promised strong leadership to secure gas supply. Credit:Andrew Meares Mr Frydenberg also said he had sought seek legal advice over South Australia's $550 million plan to go it alone, which he said was a possible breach of national rules. Mr Turnbull promised the Coalition would provide leadership to resolve the situation. "Australians are entitled to expect they will have access to the gas they need and at prices they can afford, whether it's for their homes or in their businesses," he said. "Thousands of jobs depend on secure, reliable and affordable gas. It is not acceptable for Australia, shortly to become the world's largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, to not have enough gas for its own families and its own businesses."

Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg said the discounted electric vehicle leasing program will increase takeup and make cities healthier Credit:Alex Ellinghausen The Prime Minister said looming domestic shortfalls, coming amid record overseas exports of Australian gas, had been created by state government policies. He singled out Victoria and South Australia - which both have Labor governments - for criticism. "The worst example is Victoria," Mr Turnbull said. "In Victoria, where there is a huge amount of gas and, indeed, there is still a very large offshore gas resource in Bass Strait, but there is also an enormous amount of gas onshore that can be accessed by conventional means, without fracking."

"I can say that the gas companies - I have no doubt - are very well aware they operate with the benefit of a social licence from the Australian people and they cannot expect to maintain that if while billions of dollars of gas are being exported, Australians are left short." States including Victoria and South Australia had pursued massive renewable objectives without back-up plans, Mr Turnbull said. "That type of sleep-walking into an ideological energy policy has created in South Australia, where Jay Weatherill has had to provide a $500 million - half a billion dollars - an apology note for an electricity system that he said was a grand experiment and perfect and world's best, only a few months ago. "What he's doing is playing a very expensive game of catch-up for his own failures." Victorian Treasurer Tim Pallas said Victoria was going to great lengths to protect the $11.8 billion agricultural industry from "inappropriate" gas extraction on Victorian land.

"Quite frankly, the fact that Malcolm Turnbull continues to try to muddy the waters around what is the underlying cause to the increase in gas prices is a sign of either his ignorance or malevolence towards the people of Victoria," Mr Pallas said. He said gas prices were peaking because LNG was being exported in vast quantities. "We have a very clear view that we need to have a discussion about a resource reserve for Australia for an Australian product." "Malcolm Turnbull might want to pretend that this has got something to do with an unknown and undeclared gas resource in the state of Victoria; I think it has a lot more to do with an enormous resource that is being shipped offshore." Mr Weatherill announced a new energy package worth $550 million on Tuesday, designed to tackle blackouts faced by his state. The package includes $150 million for 100 megawatts of battery storage for renewable energy, the largest in Australia; $360 million for a new gas power plant and new laws to give the state the power to override the Australian Energy Market Operator.

Mr Frydenberg told ABC radio said many gas reserves in Australia remained undeveloped, in part because of state government imposed exploration bans. "What we've heard from the Australian Energy Market Operator is that there will be a shortfall of gas in both South Australia, NSW and Victoria from 2018-19 onwards. "We would like to see these reserves developed faster and we stand ready to assist them. They also have existing reserves and supplies that they could release into the domestic market," he said. Mr Weatherill blamed the Turnbull government for allowing the national energy market to break. "The reason it's broken is because the obvious policy response is being destroyed by a bunch of right-wingers in the federal parliament who love coal and hate renewables.

"What we're doing is making the national energy market work for South Australia," he said. - with Richard Willingham Follow us on Facebook