“I don’t have an ideological objection. On one hand the Greens...

“I don’t have an ideological objection. On one hand the Greens say no new gas, no gas, no gas. On the other hand, the Liberals say a gas-led recovery. I say both those views are wrong and both are equally unhelpful. Gas is an essential insurance policy,” Mr Bowen said.

“The role of gas is peaking up and its great benefit is that it is flexible. You can turn a gas-fired peaker off or on at two minutes’ notice. You can’t do that with coal. People argue whether gas is low or high emissions … it’s zero emissions when it’s turned off.”