LEON BYNER: So let's now talk to the Federal Energy Minister Angus Taylor. Angus, good to talk to you again and thanks for coming on.

ANGUS TAYLOR: It's a pleasure, Leon. Always good to come on.

LEON BYNER: So what's your reaction to Rod Sims report?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Look, I think it's very, very important piece of work. Look, it is telling us that we're seeing the spot price - that's short term prices if you go into the market and buy gas – coming down quite dramatically in Australia. Less than internationally. They've come down even more around the globe, and this is now an international market. But the big problem is we're not seeing the contract prices coming down nearly as fast. Yes, they've softened a bit. If you enter into a new contract now, you'll get a cleaner deal than you might have a year ago, but they're not coming down as much as the international prices. Now we need to see domestic prices reflecting international prices. That's a reasonable thing to ask of the gas suppliers. It's very important that happens. It's important for ourselves, big users of gas. It's important for electricity prices. The lower spot prices have been helping us with electricity prices at the wholesale level coming down. We spoke about that last week. But it's also important for industry, because industry uses gas not just for energy but as a feedstock to produce really critical products like fertiliser for our farmers. So it's extremely important we see these reductions. It's extremely important that we're not worse off than others around the globe. When we're the biggest exporter of LNG, liquefied natural gas in the world we should be getting a good deal here. Rod makes a good point. As we work towards revising our agreement with the gas suppliers - which had good impacts first time around - towards the end of this year. It has to be revised, and then-

LEON BYNER: So we have to change the agreement?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Yes, yes. That’s the point. The agreement expires in November. We are reviewing that now. The outcome we want, the bureaucracy of the agreement is one thing, the outcome we want which is what really counts is that the prices here come into line with international prices. So as you say, a dry cleaner in Adelaide is getting a deal which should be better than a deal that could be obtained in Korea, Japan or China.

LEON BYNER: Can you, by the stroke of a pen, change this? Because I'll tell you now, it's clear the gas lobby won't like this, because we're subsidising, basically.

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, look, I think what's happened is international market has changed really dramatically in the last three years. When this Heads of Agreement went into place, the big problem was we were seeing gouging, but without an international market that was coming down. The international market was very high. It's changed dramatically in three years. And the reason for that is the United States is now exporting huge amounts of gas from Texas and Louisiana. That's changed the international market. And so there has to be a change in mindset of our gas suppliers. I think that is increasingly being recognised. And I think Australian consumers should get the benefit of those changes.

LEON BYNER: So you're going to force the issue, are you?

ANGUS TAYLOR: Well, look, we want to make sure that Australian users of gas - whether it's for electricity generation, whether it's a small business or a household for heating and cooking, or indeed heavy industry using it as a feedstock - they have to get a fair deal. Australian manufacturing and Australian households deserve it.

LEON BYNER: Alright. You'll keep me well informed, keep in touch on this won’t you?

ANGUS TAYLOR: I sure will.

LEON BYNER: Angus, thank you. That's the Federal Energy Minister.