Labor has left the door open for a tax on gas exports after revealing more details of its plan to tackle shortages and drive down prices for the crucial fuel.
After advocates spent months campaigning for a 25 per cent tax, the federal government has argued such a move could make it harder for Australia to use its LNG supplies to effectively barter for fuel shipments from other countries in South East Asia.
But in a report to an inquiry into the issue, a group of Labor senators says the government could revisit the issue once the Iran war is over.
"At this moment, policy stability and coherence are particularly valuable," the senators said.
"Nevertheless, the situation does not prevent the consideration of questions of tax policy or possible future areas for reform, once the exigencies of the current crisis have passed."
The comments follow the government's announcement of plans to force all LNG producers to reserve 20 per cent of their export gas for the Australian market, in a bid to push down wholesale prices and shore up long-term supplies.
It will bar gas companies from the often-lucrative global spot market until they can prove to the government they've properly supplied Australian consumers, Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.
"This is a policy which will obviously not please everyone," he told reporters in Sydney.
"Often good policy doesn't, but it's good policy which puts Australia's national interest first.
"It's going to put downward pressure on prices and what it will also do is, to a certain degree, disconnect Australian gas from spikes in international prices."
The "structural shift" in the nation's gas market will take effect in July 2027, with the scheme to be grandfathered so contracts signed before late 2025 will be excluded.
The gas industry says the plan is heavy-handed, lacks detail and could drive away investors.
"It's going to undermine our trading relationships and it's going to reduce competition," Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch told reporters in Canberra on Thursday.
Big manufacturing businesses who need a stable supply of gas to operate have backed the plan, describing it as a decisive step forward.
"At long last Australia has the makings of a national policy to secure the gas that local industry, households and power generators need for as long as they need it," Australian Industry Group chief executive Innes Willox said in a statement.
"The reservation model announced today is a decisive step to enable Australia's gas endowment to drive prosperity not just overseas, but in Australia too."
But the Greens, who also pushed for a 25 per cent tax on gas exports, are furious, criticising the government's decision because it fails to raise extra revenue.
"They are saying to people, look over here. Don't look at us, don't ask us for what you deserve," Greens senator Steph Hodgkins-May told reporters in Melbourne.
