Matt Gregg (Deakin, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It can be easy to fall into a cycle of despair when all progress is taken as a betrayal or failure, when you look at a binary between choosing perfection or inaction. If we continue to engage in this, we forget progress. We forget to recognise the fact that significant steps are being taken.

On the subject of gas, I think there is broad consensus—I agree with the member for Ryan—that Australians deserve a fair share from the natural resources they own. The policy prescription of a 25 per cent tax is one idea that has come up. It's something that deserves, like all tax policy, rigorous scrutiny, careful consideration and timing. We can't ignore the reality we find ourselves in: a global fuel crisis where the partners that are buying our gas are largely the ones from which we're seeking the liquid fuels that industries in electorates like mine desperately require—the diesel that tradies, truckies and bus drivers rely on and the petrol that support workers and others have to purchase in order to provide their services. The work being done to build reciprocal relationships with those partners is essential, and the sudden implementation of an export tariff of a plucked-out number is certainly not something that builds relationships at a time of crisis.

I'm not saying never ever with tax reform. We've already taken significant steps. We've already reformed the PRRT to ensure that gas companies are paying their tax sooner and aren't able to deduct full amounts every single year, and we're seeing increases in the amount of tax given the increase in commodity prices as well. Long term, there should be a mature policy discussion with facts on the table, but what we've seen lately is typical political grandstanding, positioning and submissions to inquiries that look more like social media filming episodes than actual considered policy debate. We need to look at the consequences, the economics, the industry effects. We don't want a position, for example, where imposing more taxes means that the viability of a project means that it has to be bigger and go for longer—which, the last time I checked, was not the Greens' policy either. We need to look at the full ramifications of every policy option, consider them in detail and also consider the appropriate timing of their implementation.

Obviously, that would prevent us from following the binary choice of doing 'exactly what I want, my exact number, or nothing at all'. All progress is nothing according to some, but I think we need to acknowledge progress. It is entirely legitimate for people who want to see more to call for more at the same time, but it is important to acknowledge when progress is being made. It's not insignificant, particularly when you combine it with the multinational tax avoidance legislation that this government has brought through closing typical loopholes like nonsense interest being claimed on loans to similar entities and things like that. Important work is being done by the Albanese government over a period of time. We cannot ever treat all compromises as betrayals and all progress as failure, because that will diminish our political discussion.

On the second topic of gambling reform, again, it is a similar principle. Obviously, there are those that are calling for more, but to ignore the significant progress being made in this area would also be untruthful and misleading. We've got significant reforms to advertising restrictions at the times when people are most engaged in gambling, like during sports events. We also see BetStop, credit card limits, tougher enforcement against illegal operators overseas, the criminalising of match fixing and new protections for children online. This isn't nothing. It may not be everything you want, but, again, progress is progressive. It happens over time. Rather than diminish every single reform, it's legitimate to say this is part of a process. Things are happening more than they have ever happened before, and we do need to acknowledge the good work being done. When we're asserting or implying corruption and conspiratorial nonsense, we're forgetting the fact that significant steps are being taken in the right direction. We deserve mature debate around these things.

It's worth bearing in mind that it is the Labor government that has been proposing electoral reform and donation caps to ensure that the influence of corporates in politics is limited. But, again, we are in the realm of inconvenient truths simply being ignored for the sake of political positioning. People can have a diversity of views, but to pretend that this government has been sitting on its hands on these issues is utter nonsense. We should celebrate the progress being made, talk about how we can better build on it and engage in mature policy discussion that gets the facts on the table, analyses all options and critiques assertions made by all sides of the debate.

I, for one, would not believe just everything handed to me by the gas lobby or everything handed to me by the Australian Institute. We should rigorously assess everything and then consider the options carefully and methodically to ensure that we have the best policy prescription for the interests of the Australian people. That is our job in this place. So, while I can understand and don't question the motivations of the member for Ryan—I acknowledge that there is widespread public support for taking a look at this in the future—most Australians understand we are in a fuel crisis.

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