Anne Urquhart (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Since coming to government, we have done more than any other to protect our tax base. We have reformed our tax system and secured the tax revenue arrangements needed to fund government services and stimulate investment. Within this system, we're delivering tax cuts for every single Australian worker this year and next year and a fairer, more sustainable superannuation system.

We believe that Australians are entitled to receive a fair return on our resources. In our first term, the Albanese Labor government reformed the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, the PRRT, to deliver a fairer return to the Australian community from our natural resources. Our changes to the PRRT ensure that offshore gas companies pay more tax sooner. Our changes increased the number of companies paying PRRT from 11 to 16 in 2023-24. The oil and gas industry contributed almost $12 billion in taxes in 2023-24. This is on top of billions of dollars in royalties to states and territories. The latest budget update forecasts that we will collect $5.4 billion in PRRT over the four years to 2028-29. This is on top of the corporate tax that these companies will have to pay. The company tax paid by the oil and gas sector increased from $1.1 billion on average annually in the years to 2021-22 to $10.4 billion in 2023-24.

Importantly, our changes also provide industry and investors with policy certainty—certainty that is needed for a reliable supply of domestic gas and to ensure that Australia remains a reliable international energy supplier and investment partner. We are working to ensure multinationals, including gas companies, pay their fair share of tax in Australia. Imposing new costs on the oil and gas industry could undermine that investment in gas production, causing shortfalls here in Australia. Five million homes are still connected to gas in Australia for heating, for cooking and for hot water. Without investment from our international trading partners, we wouldn't be able to provide for domestic and regional energy security. The government is focused on delivering policies that ensure there is enough gas for domestic users while also meeting our international commitments.

We also rely on the gas industry to get us off coal and act as a bridge to more renewables in the energy grid. The government is committed to net zero emissions, just like many of our trading partners as well as our Pacific partners. There would be no batteries, solar panels or wind turbines without the gas industry, because green hydrogen simply isn't commercially viable yet. We know that, as we transition to that net zero economy, reliable and affordable energy is a must. It is a must for our community and consumers. We also know that we are a trusted and reliable trading partner—a partner that is working to bring down its emissions.

In our current global situation, we're acting to ensure that our fuel is getting out the door to those who need it while also securing more to come into our country as well. We're acting to shield Australia against any future disruptions to the fuel supply chain by establishing new fuel security powers and enabling government to work with fuel suppliers to keep fuel flowing to Australia.

We need stability in the market while we transition to net zero, and without gas we simply can't have that. We need to build our net zero emissions to a point where they can stabilise, but without gas we simply can't do that, and without the investment that we receive that simply wouldn't happen. We need to ensure that that investment is reliable and is strong and that we have that trading with our partners to ensure that we have a reliable energy system here in the country while we are transitioning to a net zero system.

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