Resources Minister Madeleine King wants coal-fired power station operators "to get moving on fixing their plants" which she views as key to helping ease the nation's energy crisis, as consumers are warned of an "expensive" winter ahead.
"In the very short term, what we really need to do is to have the coal power stations come back online because that is the missing piece of the puzzle right now," Ms King told ABC radio on Tuesday.
"There's been unplanned outages for many reasons, many beyond the control of those operators and I do accept that, but I hope they're doing their best to make sure this power source comes online as well."
Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the Seven Network's Sunrise program a "perfect storm" had caused the gas price issues.
The unplanned outages to Australia's coal-fired power plants have increased reliance on gas-powered generators , largely blamed on international factors such as the war in Ukraine.
“We have flooding which is impacting [gas], but also some maintenance. A whole range of issues unfortunately are coming out at once,” Dr Chalmers told Sunrise.
“It will be a difficult winter, and it will be an expensive winter. We are in the midst of a full-blown cost-of-living crisis, and electricity prices and gas prices are unfortunately part of that pain."
Energy Minister Chris Bowen will meet his state and territory counterparts on Wednesday to discuss solutions as the Albanese government considers short- and longer-term solutions to take pressure off prices.
Ms King skirted around the issue of providing assistance to coal-fired power stations, saying the government had a clean energy policy.
"It wouldn't matter how much money anyone put in right now, we just need the operators to get moving on fixing their plants," she said.
"It is the coal companies themselves, and the operators of the power stations, that need to get these power stations back online.
"It's 30 per cent of the energy capacity taken out of the mix because of unforeseen circumstances in many respects."
When asked if the government would consider a nationwide policy forcing producers to reserve 15 per cent of their gas, as they do in Western Australia, Ms King said "nothing is off the table".
She did not commit to the policy, saying it was a "great political struggle" for the Labor government to introduce it, with many people losing "a lot of political skin in that fight".
Opposition climate change spokesman Ted O'Brien said the Albanese government needed to pull the "gas trigger" which allows exports to be diverted to domestic supply.
But Mr Bowen has argued such a move is a complex process, and action taken now would not have an effect before January.
"It reflects a lack of commercial experience on the part of Chris Bowen, who's been speaking disparagingly about it, because the value of the lever is not just in its practical use but in the threat of its use, the threat of intervention," Mr O'Brien told ABC radio.
Resources Minister Madeleine King. Source: AAP / Lukas Coch
"We've got a plan to get those power bills down over time because the absence of an energy policy for the best part of a decade is a key reason why inflation is going through the roof," he said.
Opposition treasury spokesman Angus Taylor, who is also the former energy minister, rejected accusations he had failed to invest in renewables.
"We're committed to some important transmission projects ... but we don't need excessive investment because that puts upward pressure on prices," he told ABC News.
Business Council of Australia chief executive Jennifer Westacott urged the government to act on fact-based decision making with "calm heads".
"We must not allow this to become another political bun fight," she said.
