A big campaign has been launched this week to push for an Australian domestic gas reservation policy.

It seeks new laws that would see a set amount of gas kept onshore to drive down energy costs for manufacturers and other industries.

Cheaper electricity would allow the expansion of many non-mining industries, at the same time as resource companies are sacking workers en masse while extracting record levels of natural gas and other commodities.

Australia’s gas price has been pushed up close to the international level, as a vast majority of it is shipped overseas to take advantage of its reasonable value.

But the push to get our gas to foreign markets has taken a hefty toll on local manufacturing, says the Australian Workers Union (AWU).

The AWU enlisted BIS Shrapnel to investigate the situation and draw up some potential policy options as part of the ‘Reserve Our Gas’ campaign launched this week.

BIS economists warned that twenty per cent of local manufacturers could shut down in the next five years due to the spiralling gas price.

There are fears that Australian gas prices will triple from July next year, when new LNG project come online and exports ramp up.

The union says it is ridiculous that Australia has such large gas reserves, yet industries suffering under high gas prices.

“We currently have a situation in which our abundant gas reserves are hurting Australian jobs and households instead of helping them. That's crazy and it's no wonder no other gas-exporting nation allows it,” AWU national secretary Scott McDine told radio interviewers on the weekend.

“We are throwing away hundreds of thousands of jobs, and our national competitive advantage, simply so gas exporters can squeeze a little extra profit out of what is already a spectacularly profitable business.

“Of course our abundant natural gas can and should be exported to the world. But a portion of it also needs to be providing a competitive advantage to our local industry, and a cost of living benefit to Australian consumers. We can have both, just like every other gas exporting nation.”

Western Australia already has its own gas reservation policy, mandating the retention of 15 per cent of the state’s supply.

BIS Shrapnel’s investigations found that the WA policy has not damaged gas investment or created sovereign risk.

In fact, it said that $88 billion has been invested in WA gas production since the reservation policy was introduced in 2006.

Alcoa, Australian Paper and other major manufacturers have supported the AWU’s national campaign, as two big employers of the 91,300 jobs that could be lost in coming months as a direct result of manufacturing shutdowns.