The Labor backbencher Ed Husic is demanding an intervention to combat Japanese gas companies re-selling Australian exports to other markets, breaking ranks from the government and risking diplomatic blowback from Tokyo.

The former industry minister said the government must send a “powerful signal” to overseas multinationals, in particular in Japan, to stop “playing us off as mugs” by profiting off the resale of Australian gas while households and industry on the east coast face high prices and potential supply shortages.

The resources minister, Madeleine King, suggested Husic’s proposal would not materially help the east coast because 95% of Japan’s imports came out of Western Australia and the Northern Territory – which are part of a separate, unconnected market.

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