Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Last night, the Labor government chose the gas industry. More than three in five Australians support a 25 per cent tax on gas exports. They know we're being ripped off and they want gas corporations to pay their fair share. Only one in 20 Australians oppose it—two-thirds support it—and yet here we are, the morning after the budget, and there's no tax on gas exports. We live in a democracy, and yet it's clear that the will of the people can be superseded by large, powerful corporations and their billionaire owners. Their interests simply matter more to the government than the interests of the majority of Australians.

With the $17 billion that this tax would raise per year, we could make a real difference in people's lives. $17 billion is almost double the entire federal budget for housing. Imagine how many public and affordable homes we could build with that. Imagine fully funding our health services, like putting dental and mental cover into Medicare. Imagine using it to wipe student debt.

It's not like the alternative is any better. Not just Labor but both major parties have repeatedly chosen the gas industry over Australian people. What kind of democracy is this? I'm serious. What kind of democracy is it where two-thirds of Australians can support a policy and the government reject it, where massive gas corporations can legally shovel millions of dollars into the coffers of the major parties and buy influence, and where lobbyists for gas corporations can run their talking points with senior ministers and staffers to the point where the government starts parroting them like they're gospel?

What kind of democracy is it where these same lobbyists can literally buy access to these ministers—something a normal person could never do, could never afford—and where senior staff, ministers and even state premiers go on to work for the gas lobby as soon as they finish their political career? Some current representatives even worked in senior positions in these corporations right up until being elected. It is a revolving door.

What kind of democracy is it where our resources and our wealth are practically given away for free to these corporations? Ordinary people are paying more tax than these corporations. In fact, many of these corporations pay no tax at all. This is our government. This is our wealth. But both are being captured by these massive corporations. This Labor government was supposed to act with more integrity than the Morrison government. It's more of the same. Well, I think it's time for a change.

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