Sophie Scamps (Mackellar, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Australians don't like being taken for a ride, and right now they're being taken for a ride by the gas giants operating in this country. These are foreign owned corporations that treat Australia like a doormat, profiting from global conflict and raking in billions from our natural resources, while everyday Australians are left struggling with rising energy bills. That's why so many Australians are calling, right now, for a fair return for the export of our gas.

The Australian Council of Trade Unions and the Australia Institute have put forward a straightforward proposal that would replace the broken petroleum resource rent tax with a 25 per cent flat tax on the value of exported gas. This would ensure that Australia actually receives revenue when our gas is shipped overseas.

Other sensible options have been proposed—including a price based royalty, whereby gas companies would pay royalties based upon the price of gas sales, allowing tax rates to increase as prices go up and to decrease as prices drop. This option would ensure that Australians benefit from windfall profits but would also protect industry when prices drop. The successful Queensland coal and gas royalty scheme is based on such a measure.

We have known for a long time that the current system is failing Australians, allowing multinational gas companies to pay little or no tax despite earning eye-watering profits. The current petroleum resource rent tax is riddled with loopholes that allow profit-shifting, compounding, carry-forwards and accounting tricks, which all equate to minimal tax being paid on company profits. Added to that is the fact that 56 per cent of our exported gas attracts zero royalties. We give away more than half of our gas for free.

The system is broken and Australians know it. That's why support for a gas export tax or a Commonwealth royalty scheme is so strong. Polling from the Australia Institute shows that voters across Australia support a gas export tax, including 75 per cent support in my electorate of Mackellar, and there is broad backing across the political spectrum, with some of the strongest backing coming from One Nation voters.

Right now, the gas industry uses more gas to process into LNG for export than Australian manufacturers use, combined. Meanwhile, some of our biggest trading partners are making tidy profits onselling our gas. Research from the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis shows Japanese companies onsold 600 to 800 petajoules of Australian LNG in 2024, more than the entire gas demand of eastern Australia. Those resales alone likely generated more than $1 billion in profit for Japan.

A gas export tax would raise significant revenue. Currently, the Commonwealth makes more from beer excise and from HECS than it does from the PRRT. A 25 per cent gas export tax would generate up to $17 billion a year. In fact, figures released this week from the Australia Institute suggest Australia misses out on nearly $350 million in revenue every single week. Other countries are way ahead of us. When gas prices spike, the Saudis, Qataris and Norwegians benefit because they tax their exports properly. Australia is the outlier here. We have massive gas exports but receive minimal public revenue. Norway has a sovereign wealth fund worth $2 trillion. We have billions in debt. Australians want answers and they want action.

Some are talking about a windfall profits tax, and that has its merits, but it's not enough on its own. Windfall taxes only apply during price spikes and are easy to minimise. A flat 25 per cent gas export tax delivers revenue every time gas is exported, not just during boom years. It's stable, it's simple and it's much harder to avoid with accounting tricks. Similarly, a price royalty scheme would be comprehensive, capture windfall profits, be relatively simple to administer and implement, be low risk for taxpayers and, importantly, would not materially discourage investment.

Momentum is building, and it's positive to see new modelling being requested by government on levy options and an inquiry established into windfall profits. So the call for the government is simple today. Please fix the broken system that is ripping off Australians and ensure we start getting a fair return for the sale of our gas. I'd like to now cede the second half of my time to the member for Kooyong.

See this speech in context