<div>Barnaby Joyce pulls back from repeating claim AGL is 'shorting' market</div>

Deputy PM tells Coalition party room AGL’s refusal to sell Liddell power station is about market behaviour but declines to repeat allegation on Sky NewsThe deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, has pulled back from a comment he made to the Coalition party room on Tuesday that AGL was “shorting” the market by refusing to sell the ageing Liddell coal-fired power plant to a competitor.Joyce would not repeat the accusation during an interview on Sky News late on Tuesday – but he insisted the company had not provided a reasonable answer to the question of why it would decommission the New South Wales plant if a rival generation company wanted to buy it. Related: Coalition's public shaming of AGL another assault on imaginary energy enemies | Katharine Murphy Related: AGL to deliver plan to avoid energy shortage if Liddell power station closes Continue reading...