Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is for the Treasurer. Victorians are paying a fortune for electricity because of the massive increases in gas and coal prices, while fossil fuel corporations are making windfall profits. Will you rip up your undercooked petroleum resources rent tax and instead introduce a fair and progressive tax on fossil fuel so we can put downward pressure on inflation and invest more in renewables, which are the cheapest source of energy?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Milton Dick (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

Members on my left will cease interjecting.

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you to the member for Kooyong for her question. We intend to proceed with the design of the PRRT changes, which were one of the features of the May budget. The reason is that this is the best way to make sure the offshore LNG industry pays more tax sooner, and we are talking here about $2.4 billion in additional tax. Whether it's the improvements to the bulk-billing incentive or whether it's the cost-of-living assistance that is rolling out right now, that $2.4 billion will make a substantial contribution.

As the honourable member knows, the process that led to this policy change has been a long one, before the life of this government, and it culminated in some advice from Treasury, which has been in the news and which is why, I suspect, the honourable member is asking the question today. The Treasury provided three options. Of the three options in the final Treasury advice, the one I chose actually raises more money over the forward estimates than the other alternatives in the options presented to us, and that is an important consideration as well, to the honourable member who asked the question.

We want to see the offshore LNG industry pay more tax sooner. We've come up with a way, with the help of the Treasury and on the recommendation of the Treasury, to ensure we can do that while protecting our international relationships, protecting the jobs in the sector and recognising that gas will play a role as a transition fuel as we embark on this net-zero transformation, which I personally believe passionately in, as do my colleagues on this side of the House. So $2.4 billion that we wouldn't see without these efforts, based on the Treasury recommendations, the three options presented to me, I think a good return for the Australian taxpayer sooner so we can fund the things we truly value in our society. Whether it be health care, whether it be cost-of-living help, whether it be rent assistance or whether it be building more social and affordable homes—all things we need to do—this money will help offset some of those important priorities.