Tasmania’s Bell Bay aluminium smelter is facing an annual power cost gap of about A$60 million, a shortfall Energy Minister Nick Duigan said could put more than 550 jobs at risk. He said federal backing would be critical, pointing to close to $1 billion spent at Queensland’s Boyne smelter and hundreds of millions at New South Wales’ Tomago site. The dispute has intensified after the federal government excluded Bell Bay from the $2 billion Green Aluminium Production Credit scheme despite pre-election commitments. Federal MP Jess Teesdale has argued the credits are aimed at coal-burning smelters shifting to renewables, not Bell Bay, which already runs on hydro power.