I wasn't listning intentively but I'm nearly sure I heard Tony Jones whislt interviewing Greg on Lateline say that the natural gas companies said that it would need a carbon tax of $90 per ton for gas fired base power generators to be viable in relation to coal fired ones.
I don't know what Greg's answer was, just some "we're in discussion waffle."
I would doubt that they would go to $90 but $40/$50 could well be on the cards.
Also there was mention of three new coal fired power station were to be built somewhere in WA even though the have heaps of gas just off-shore. I can't remember Greg's answer to that, someone that was listning to Lateline may be able to fill us in and/or correct me on any of the above.
