By Dominic Giannini

Peter Dutton wanted to start the day with a focus on hip-pocket pain at an iconic brewery but the brew turned sour after a climate protester crashed the party.

The opposition leader used a tour of the XXXX brewery in Brisbane to spruik his plan to set up an east coast gas reserve and pump more gas into that energy grid to bring down power prices.

Increasing energy costs had drained businesses dry, he said.

“It’s not just providing the gas that’s in the system now for Australians first, it’s also making sure that we can bring new gas into the system,” he said.

“So prices will be lower under us, there is no question about that.”

But he has refused to outline how much an average Australian would save under this plan.

Quizzed about the basis of his projection, Mr Dutton said modelling had been done for the coalition and would be released before the election.

“I’m going to leave it to other experts in the space to talk about their analysis of our plan but there is work that’s been done by Frontier (Economics) and it does provide some indication,” he said.

Gas would be used until the coalition’s seven planned nuclear power plants could start coming online in the late 2030s and 2040s.

But his message wasn’t well received by all, with a Rising Tide protester bypassing security alongside the travelling press pack to interrupt Mr Dutton’s tour, yelling “no new gas or nuclear”.

“Why are you lying about the cost of nuclear?,” she screamed as she was forcibly removed.

Speaking about the incident, Mr Dutton said climate change was important to the coalition and it remained committed to net-zero emissions by 2050 but the country needed to have a mature debate about nuclear.

Labor and experts argue renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy, with Australia having an abundance of solar and wind resources.

The opposition leader campaigned in the seat of Brisbane alongside candidate Trevor Evans and the Liberals candidate for the neighbouring seat of Ryan, both of which it lost to the Greens in 2022.

The Greens hold Brisbane on a less than four per cent margin and Ryan on 2.6 per cent.

Labor’s seat of Moreton is also in the coalition’s sight with incumbent Graham Perrett retiring.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese fired a shot across the opposition leader’s bow by starting his first full day campaigning in Mr Dutton’s seat of Dickson, the most marginal in Queensland.

“I welcome Mr Albanese meeting as many of my constituents in Dickson as possible and I think my margin would go up as a result of that,” Mr Dutton responded when asked about his rival’s movements.

Voters go to the polls on May 3 after a five-week campaign.