by leave—Equity guarantees insurance and price support. Secondly, $3.2 billion was committed for the establishment of an Australian fuel security reserve. As part of this initiative, approximately one billion litres of fuel was reserved to increase long-term diesel and aviation fuel supply and storage, and the minimum stockholding obligation will increase Australia's critical fuel reserves to 50 days. The focus of this is to address potential regional stock-outs and supply constraints for essential users like critical industries and farmers in anticipation of future potential supply disruptions.

Separately, the federal budget also committed $35.5 million to be spent over four years from 2026-2027 for the establishment of a domestic gas reservation mechanism. This aims to ensure a secure and affordable domestic gas supply through the wholesale gas market. These funds will be spent over four years from 2026-2027 not only to develop and implement the reservation mechanism but to conduct gas market analysis and policy development to promote market reliability and energy security, to modernise offshore resources regulation, support gas investment and mitigate supply shortfalls.

Energy sovereignty also reflects that Australian gas is our natural asset. The Albanese Labor government's Domestic Gas Reservation Scheme is a landmark Labor reform, designed to deliver more supply at the lowest possible prices for gas users, disconnecting domestic prices from the more costly international market, and it's also designed to make Australian industry stronger and our economy more resilient to global, political and supply-chain shocks. These, of course, look like they're becoming more frequent, of longer duration and with much shorter periods of relief in between. Australians rightly expect to receive a fair return from the development of our natural resources. That expectation is reasonable, and it's one that governments must continue to keep in mind when considering future resource, taxation and royalty arrangements.

But energy sovereignty is not one size fits all. As this government has demonstrated, it requires a really broad approach that is much more considered than simple calls to just drill at all costs or to implement a blunt taxation instrument, which is always the inevitable call in response to bills of this nature. Do I want Australians to get a better return on gas and our natural resources? Yes, I do. Do I want Australian gas to be first and foremost available for Australians so that there are no energy shortfalls and so there can be firming as we continue the transition to clean, renewable energy? Yes, I do. I want these things as quickly as reasonably practicable, which is why it's so important to have conversations that can lead to these benefits for the Australian people—conversations that involve fair comparisons and fair and relevant case studies; conversations that are informed by facts and data, not slogans.

The question before us today is not whether Australians should benefit more from Australian gas, because they should. The question is how we deliver that outcome in a way that strengthens energy security, supports Australian industry and provides certainty for investment. Taxation can influence investment and government revenue, but taxation alone does not guarantee affordable domestic supply. The purpose of this bill is to address supply and energy security directly by ensuring Australian gas remains available to Australian households and businesses. Resource taxation will continue to be debated in this place, and rightly so, because Australians expect governments to examine whether the community is receiving a fair return from the extraction and commercialisation of our natural resources. In Australia, we have a mechanism: the petroleum resources rent tax.

The PRRT is a profit based tax designed to capture revenue from Australia's oil and gas resources without discouraging the investment of private capital in identifying and developing those resources that we still need to do at this moment. An entity will be liable to pay PRRT where that entity earns a taxable profit in relation to an offshore petroleum project. PRRT is levied at the rate of 40 per cent of taxable profits, and it's payable in addition to income tax. While views differ on the appropriate level of resource taxation, today's legislation is not principally a taxation measure; it's an energy security measure. Its purpose is to ensure that domestic users can access Australian gas at predictable prices and in reliable quantities.

That being said, since coming to government, the Albanese Labor government has made changes to the PRRT to reflect community sentiment that gas companies should pay more tax. The changes mean that between now and 2030 gas companies will pay approximately $1.6 billion more than originally forecast. But does this mean set and forget, all good? No. There are big differences between Australia and other countries like Norway and Qatar, which are often used as comparison points. The differences between us primarily relate to the ownership structure of assets and organisations, the capital outlays, the downside risk to the taxpayer and the way gas is taxed in essence as a cash flow tax where CAPEX is immediately expensed, leading to lower downside risk for investors, rather than as a revenue tax. As a general principle, Australia and the Australian people do not receive a comparable return once those differences are taken into account.

No tax system should ever be considered beyond review, but reform should be guided by evidence and Australia's long-term national interest. If it involves comparisons between industry, systems or countries, the comparisons should be apples with apples in fairness. Otherwise, they just don't advance the argument. For example, unlike an excise, the PRRT is a profits based tax. An excise is a flat, volume based tax that provides a regular source of revenue regardless of whether a producer of the product attracting the excise makes a profit or not. With respect to the PRRT, the question is not whether tax should be paid but how Australia balances a fair return to the community with maintaining investment in projects that underpin jobs, exports and energy security.

Good energy policy is not about choosing between households and industry, between energy security and decarbonisation, or between domestic consumers and our trading partners; it's about balancing all of these interests responsibly, and that is what this bill seeks to do with an appropriate emphasis on securing supply and fair prices for the Australian people. At this moment in time, Australian gas supports jobs and investment, supports regional communities, and provides energy security for us and our trading partners. At the heart of this bill is a simple proposition: exporters that benefit from Australia's gas resources should make an appropriate contribution to the domestic markets connected to those resources. The regime operates with certainty for both the Australian consumer and the exporter, in that it establishes a predictable and proportionate domestic contribution at prices agreed in commercial negotiations between market participants while allowing exporters to continue to participate in international markets.

The way the regime has been balanced is also important for business and heavy industry, which is particularly reliant on gas. Many industries, like chemicals, plastics and fertilisers, rely on natural gas as a critical raw material or energy source. A reliable, affordable domestic supply keeps these industries competitive and prevents job losses. A good example of this in motion is the South Australian government's agreement with Santos, pursuant to which Santos will supply about 20 petajoules of gas per year to the state's strategic gas reserve from its Moomba operations over 10 years, commencing from 1 March 2030. This arrangement will support the long-term future of the Cooper basin central fields near Moomba, create jobs in Adelaide, create jobs in regional South Australia for at least the next 15 years and ensure South Australia's industrial future and energy security, including the planned sale and transformation of the Whyalla Steelworks.

Australian gas should first and foremost be for Australian consumers and Australian industry. Given its abundance, there should be no gap in supply in the domestic market and prices should be fair, and exporters who export Australian Gas should contribute fairly to the welfare of the Australian people by providing jobs, supporting industry, supporting regional security and paying the Australian people fairly, including by paying the levy contemplated by the Domestic Gas Reservation Levy Bill 2026, which is payment for the opportunity and significant benefits that come to them from extracting Australian natural gas. I commend the bill to the chamber.