I rise to speak on the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026, the Domestic Gas Reservation (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2026 and the Domestic Gas Reservation Levy Bill 2026. Australia is one of the largest gas exporters in the global economy. We extract it from the ground, load it onto ships and send it to customers right across the globe. Yet for years Australian families and Australian businesses have watched that gas be exported while they paid more for it at home. We have been suffering from gas shortages and price shocks, but we have plenty of it here in our own backyard. That is a situation that should never have been allowed to take hold.

Aussies should have access to affordable gas, the gas this great country produces. We can reserve gas for Aussies and continue to export. We can do both. This bill establishes a domestic gas reservation scheme requiring LNG exporters to oversupply the domestic market. For the businesses and families I represent in Dickson, affordable gas is the difference between staying afloat and sinking. Gas is essential for manufacturers and businesses right across my region. It is used to grow, process and package the food that lands on supermarket shelves. It's used for processing aluminium and making glass, bricks, cement, ceramics, steel and, of course, power—that all important energy.

When gas costs more, every one of these things costs more. Everything in Australia costs more. This is not some abstract debate in a faraway gas field. It will have an impact on all Australians. For too long, gas has been treated as an asset of gas companies for them alone. These laws change that for the first time. They recognise gas resources as our country's assets. When we came to government in 2022, we walked straight into an energy crisis. A decade of the coalition umming and ahhing on energy policies, mismanagement that has made gas more expensive and left the rules governing our gas market unreliable—22 energy policies in nine and a half years. They left a gas market mess. Who remembers the gas-fired recovery that never actually arrived? Combined with global economic shocks, all this meant that prices went through the roof. There was a point where gas was being offered into our own domestic market at a price of more than $60 a gigajoule. That was simply not workable or sustainable.

The Albanese Labor government acted. We capped coal and gas prices to get families and businesses through the shock, and let me remind the House that those opposite voted against that measure. We used the tools that we had. The Gas Market Review said in its recommendations that our gas market needed fundamental reform to fix the mess, and it recommended that a national reservation scheme be at the very heart of that reform. That is what these new laws deliver.

The first of these bills, the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026, is at the heart of the reform. It establishes Australia's first national domestic gas reservation scheme. Under it, our exporters will be subject to a domestic supply obligation. They will be required to contribute up to the equivalent of 20 per cent of their exports to the Australian market. The figure will be set by the Australian Energy Regulator based on what Australia actually needs at the time, with a supply buffer on top so that we hold a steady supply here at home. That means more of our own gas is supplied to our own market. More gas—more supply—will mean cheaper gas. There's been a bit of criticism about this reform. Some have asked: 'Why does this not cap our gas exports? Why does this not put a stop to our gas trade? Why are we not taxing gas?' Australia is and will remain a reliable supplier of gas to the rest of the world. Australia will keep the income and the jobs our gas exports provide to our domestic economy. What changes is simple and very much overdue: before that gas goes overseas, Australians get looked at first. We're prioritised.

The second bill, the Domestic Gas Reservation (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2026, clears out the patchwork of previously implemented measures and replaces it with one set of rules. It goes to the Gas Market Code and our competition law, and it fixes the single biggest flaw in the old system. For years, the rules only asked exporters to offer gas to Australians, not actually to sell it to us. Thanks to these bills, the obligation now is to supply real gas into the Australian market—not to offer it but to actually deliver it—and there are no loopholes to be exploited by exporters trying to dodge their obligations to supply gas into the Aussie market.

The third bill, the Domestic Gas Reservation Levy Bill 2026, makes sure that the cost of regulating the gas industry is covered by the gas industry, not the taxpayer. This means that the cost of the scheme is recovered from the companies that hold the export licences and profit from our resources.

These bills are common sense. Our gas is our national asset, so it should look after the national interest, and the companies that make their fortunes shipping it overseas should make sure our domestic market is looked after here at home. This is not antibusiness and it is not antitrade. The contracts our exporters have already signed will be honoured. We are doing all of this while maintaining Australia's reputation as a trusted trading partner with our neighbours in the Asia-Pacific region and across the globe. Australian gas will be reliable abroad and reliable here at home. It does both. That reliability is so very important, because reliability and certainty of supply is what unlocks investment potential here in Australia. When producers and large users know a steady volume of gas will be here in this market, in my electorate of Dickson, they can sign the long-term contracts that let them build new supply, new projects, new factories and importantly, the jobs that run on them.

For a manufacturer deciding whether to build here or overseas, the question is this. 'Can I count on affordable, reliable energy for the next 10 and 20 years?' This reform helps us be able to say: 'Yes. Set up shop. Build here. Build in my local industrial area of Brendale.' And the jobs that flow from that benefit our whole community—manufacturing jobs, processing jobs, jobs that aren't outsourced. They are the trades and the apprenticeships that let a young person in Moreton Bay build a career and a life close to home. Affordable energy is the foundation the rest of our economy rests on. With this bill, the Albanese Labor government backs our domestic manufacturing sector and the workers that work in it.

These new bills, these new laws, will mean that locals in my electorate of Dickson are better shielded from the next global price spike, because, when we keep more of our gas onshore, a price shock caused by conflict or some external factor on the other side of the world has far less power to reach into our suburbs and drive the energy bill up. A family running the heater through winter, a business manufacturing plastics, steel or anything like that and a manufacturer in Petrie trying to keep its people on won't be at the mercy of the global gas economy. They can be reassured that 20 per cent of our gas supplies will be held for them.

This legislation sits alongside everything else we are doing to take the weight off local power bills. Across Dickson, families have taken up our Cheaper Home Batteries Program—storing their own energy and cutting their bills. Of course our government still supports the rollout of renewables like solar and wind. The switch to renewable energy has absolutely gained pace since the Albanese Labor government came to power, but it doesn't happen overnight. We still need gas to support the rollout of renewable energy across the country while we build the renewable energy infrastructure for our future. We need gas for our domestic manufacturing industry, and we need gas to keep the heating on at home. Keeping that gas affordable and keeping it here is how we hold bills steady through the transition instead of leaving families and businesses in Dickson and around the country exposed to price shocks.

This reform does not pull us away from our climate goals; it helps us meet them. The government's own Future Gas Strategy is clear that gas has a part to play on the road to net zero by 2050. Gas is the key on our journey to net zero. We need gas to process and refine the critical minerals and rare earths that are right here in Australia. Critical minerals go into renewable energy infrastructure such as solar panels. This is another building block in a future made in Australia that's built by Australians and powered by our own resources for the benefit of all Australians. Those opposite oppose these bills. They say that, apparently, they have their own gas policy to offer. We know how that ended when they were in power for nine years, with 22 different policies and no gas recovery. As I just said, history has shown that they can't deliver. Even One Nation chose to ditch its gas policy which was hastily announced a few months ago, because they're more focused on protecting the interests of their mates rather than Australian families who actually foot the bill.

On this side of the House, we stand with ordinary Australians. We are the only party that actually cares about the everyday Australian—the ones that are struggling to pay the bills, the businesses that are driving our economy, our innovative businesses. We're securing more affordable Australian gas for Australian homes and businesses, and we're doing it to shield Aussies from the global economic shocks that they did not cause and cannot control. For too long Australians have been last in line for their own gas. These new laws will end that. There will be more Australian gas for more Australian homes and businesses—more gas and more security. I commend these bills to the House.

I move the second reading amendment as circulated in my name:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House calls on the Government to implement a 25 percent gas export tax, which would lower domestic gas prices while raising revenue for Australians who desperately need cost-of-living help".

The Greens will be opposing this bill in the House in its current form and reserving our position in the Senate. This bill poses serious risks to Australia's climate action goals and to political integrity. I'm very concerned that this bill will facilitate new gas infrastructure development in the Beetaloo basin and set off a wave of climate bombs at a crucial tipping point for climate action.

The United Nations gave a very stark warning this week. We've already passed the point of no return for limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees. If we want to limit the increase to 1.7 or 1.8, we must make rapid and deep cuts to our carbon emissions. That means not allowing any new gas projects, ending the millions in taxpayer handouts to big fossil fuel corporations and, instead, investing in renewables. This bill does not do that. Instead, it seeks to embed gas into Australia's energy mix for the long term. The Labor government seems totally cavalier in the face of this alarming UN report on global warming—happy just to carry on as if nothing needs to change. Could it be that their willingness to do gas corporations' bidding has something to do with the millions of dollars they accept in donations from the fossil fuel industry? That is the sad story of this Labor government: letting big corporations get away with anything, while pretending there's absolutely nothing the government can do to make life easier for everyday people. It's no coincidence that those big corporations help fund their election campaigns. Follow the money.

Speaking of integrity in our politics, or the lack thereof, that brings me to my second major concern about this bill. By setting up extensive new ministerial powers, including the power to exempt individual gas companies from regulations, this bill creates fertile ground for favours. Some would call it corruptibility. It would build a favour factory between gas companies and resource ministers. 'A few hundred thousand dollars in donations? Thanks very much. We'll put a carve-out in the regulation for you.'

Specifically, this bill allows the minister to exempt gas corporations from the proposed domestic supply obligation. The entire purpose of the bill is to increase domestic gas supply, and yet it gives the minister the power to exempt any company they like. What a joke! We know that the gas companies are very generous donors to both sides of politics—and to One Nation, too. They've covered all their bases. They've hedged their bets. This set-up means it doesn't matter if the government changes. Decisions will always be made in the gas corporations' favour.

To dismantle this favour factory between the gas industry and political parties, my detail amendments will prevent all political donations by the gas exporters regulated by this gas reserve legislation. My amendments will also remove a gaping loophole: the open-ended ministerial discretion to exempt individual gas companies.

Finally—the elephant in the room—this bill still does not tax gas. This government would still allow private gas companies to use our sovereign resources, flog them off overseas, to their enormous profit, and not pay their fair share in taxes. Regular Aussies pay their taxes, but not big gas companies. It's one rule for some and another rule for others. My amendments will therefore also include a gas export tax. It's a no-brainer.

We need to be moving urgently to renewables. But, while they're still allowing gas corporations to extract our resources, that we all own, at the very least we should be getting some tax in return. A 25 per cent gas export tax could raise $17 billion a year to spend on actually making people's lives better. Because it's an export tax, it would put downward pressure on domestic energy prices by disincentivising overseas exports over domestic supply. More than 60 per cent of Australians support a gas tax. When will the government listen to the community and do the right thing?

Without these amendments, I cannot vote for this bill as it stands because it risks our climate. The risks to our climate and the political integrity are too great and it ignores the Australian people's call for a fair return on our resources. Politics should work for people, not for fossil fuel profits.

Why was the gas lobbyist dancing? It was because he knew the Labor government committed to another win for his industry. Why was the gas lobbyist dancing on Monday night last week in a Canberra nightclub? It was because, just that day, the Labor government released their final version of their gas reservation bill, which will incentivise new gas developments and allow the minister to make copious exemptions for them. Why was the gas lobbyist dancing at 2 am to 'Money for Nothing' by Dire Straits? It was because he knew that, if the government passes this weak, watered down, ineffectual gas-reservation bill, it'll help the government weasel out of implementing an actual gas tax. The gas lobbyist was dancing because, if Labor's bill goes ahead, gas companies will continue to get their money for nothing and their chicks for free. They will keep exporting our resources for massive profits and pay little to no tax. The Australian public will be $17 billion poorer every year and gas corporations $17 billion richer.

But here's something that the gas lobbyist doesn't know: the Australian people are not going to let this industry get away with this rip-off anymore. Hundreds of thousands are demanding real action, not fake solutions. Labor must tax gas.

Is the amendment seconded?

I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.

Australia is one of the world's greatest exporters of natural gas. We have the resources. We have the skills. We have the workers to build, operate and maintain the projects that supply customers around the world. Yet Australian manufacturers and families can find themselves competing with overseas buyers for gas produced in their own country. We dig it up here, we process it here, we export it from here and then Australians are told to pay prices shaped by international markets to use their own gas. Something has gone badly wrong with that arrangement. Australians should not be at the back of the queue for Australian gas, and that is the principle behind these bills. We can remain a trusted exporter while making sure our homes and industries have access to the gas they need.

Australia's gas is a national asset. It is not simply an asset on a company's balance sheet. And let's remember: the private sector didn't build this industry on its own. Australian taxpayers helped lay the foundations. Government scientists mapped our offshore resources, and publicly funded research helped reduce the risks for companies looking to develop them. We know this because the cabinet papers have been released. In 1988 Treasury was questioning why taxpayers were carrying so much cost when private companies stood to benefit and the government expected to recover less than five per cent of the research costs. The Australian public helped carry the risk. It is only reasonable that the Australian public shares in the reward. We value the investment, jobs and exports the industry has delivered, but let's not rewrite history and pretend government and taxpayers have had nothing to do with building it. That is why a successful export industry must also serve the country whose resources it uses. That is not radical; that is common sense.

The Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026 creates a national system of export licences and domestic supply obligations. The related bills update our gas market rules and make exporters pay the cost of regulating the scheme. The standard obligation is gas equivalent to 20 per cent of covered LNG exports, subject to adjustments and calibration to actual Australian needs. And here is an important distinction: the obligation is about domestic supply, not just a press release about gas available. Gas must actually reach the domestic buyer. The scheme contains measures to prevent exporters meeting the obligation merely by shifting around gas Australians could already buy. We want genuine additional supply, not creative accounting.

The difference between offering gas and supplying it is not some technical argument reserved for lawyers. If a factory needs energy to run its machinery, an unaccepted offer does not keep the machinery moving. The scheme is built around actual domestic sales, with limited flexibility when demand and timing do not line up. Those deferred quantities must be made up later. That is how a supply obligation becomes something meaningful rather than another voluntary promise.

Nor does the legislation impose an overall cap on LNG exports. A company can keep exporting provided it meets its domestic obligations. This is about linking an export opportunity to a public responsibility, and it replaces a system built around responding to predicted shortages with a standing framework designed to prevent them in the first place.

From January 2028, domestic supply obligations are intended to apply under the new framework. Businesses planning investment need rules they can understand, not another scramble when the market tightens. There is a reason this bill does not simply demand as much gas as possible at the lowest imaginable price. The Australian Energy Regulator will calibrate supply obligations against forecast domestic demand. The policy aims for a modest buffer of supply, rather than a glut that drives prices so low that producers stop investing or renewable projects become harder to finance, and that is what balance looks like in legislation.

We should also recognise why long-term contracts count. Companies and trading partners make investments on agreements signed years in advance. Pulling those agreements apart without warning would damage confidence in Australian projects. But treating every renewable as permanently protected would leave us with a reservation policy that never really begins. So the bill draws a line. Commitments entered into on or before 22 December 2025 are recognised, but subsequent renewals and extensions are not automatically sheltered. This is the difference between respecting an agreement and writing an indefinite exemption. Because the scheme is national, the regulator must consider the demand and supply conditions of the relevant market, not assume that every corner of the country faces the same pressures.

The framework also recognises contracts in place before 22 December 2025, existing state reservation systems and genuine infrastructure constraints. Those are adjustments, not a lifetime exemption from responsibility. We have listened to the people who will have to make this system work. Consultation has changed the design, including the start date, the calculation of obligations and the arrangements for flexibility. A sensible government listens, changes what needs changing and still delivers reform. The goal is downward pressure on domestic prices. I will not promise that every bill will fall overnight. Gas markets don't work that way. But giving Australian buyers more secure access and a stronger position when negotiating contracts is a worthwhile reform.

Western Australians already understand domestic reservation. Our state has required LNG projects to make gas available for local use for years. It is one of the reasons we have a different starting point from the east coast. Australia has two physically separate gas markets, with different pipelines, contracts and supply conditions. This national scheme recognises that difference. It can operate alongside the state arrangements and adjust conditions in each market. As a Western Australian, I do not want Canberra pretending a system that works in Queensland will operate identically in the Pilbara. But neither should we pretend that the needs of Australian users stop at the state border.

I represent people who work in resources, construction, electrical maintenance and manufacturing. Some travel long distances to their jobs. They know that investment takes years, projects cost money and supply does not magically appear because a politician makes a speech. They also know that the Australian public should receive a fair return for its natural resources. Both things can be true.

I want to address some voices in the media and in this debate who say the answer is simply to tax gas exports more heavily. There are two very different arguments being mixed together. One is that taxpayers should receive more revenue from valuable resources. That is a legitimate argument and one I take seriously. The other one is that higher taxes might discourage gas production and help bring the industry to an end. That is a different objective altogether. People are entitled to argue for either, but they should be upfront about what they are trying to achieve and what the consequences might be, because raising revenue is not the same as securing supply. You can collect another billion dollars in tax and still leave an Australian factory unable to secure a gas contract. You can announce a new tax rate without delivering an extra kilojoule to a household or manufacturer. And if you damage investment in the essential supply before alternatives exist, the people paying the price may be workers, not the company executives everyone was hoping to punish.

That does not mean the gas industry gets a free ride—far from it. The Albanese Labor government has reformed the petroleum resource rent tax to bring forward additional revenue. Gas companies should pay their fair share, and Australians should benefit from what comes out of the ground, but we should judge every new proposal on the evidence. Will it raise sustainable revenue? Will it affect domestic prices? Will it support investment? What happens to jobs and emissions? The experience in the North Sea is a warning that tax investment and production decisions interact. It is not proof that every gas tax destroys an industry, and pretending otherwise would be another slogan. A tax can be justified, and so can stronger environmental standards, but neither substitutes for a plan to keep Australian factories supplied.

I serve on the committee dealing with climate change, energy, environment and water. I care about the environment. I want emissions to fall. I want cleaner air, healthier oceans and a safer climate for our children. But I also know the energy transition is a construction job, an engineering job and a workforce job. It needs more solar, wind, storage and transmission. It needs electricians installing equipment, apprentices learning new skills and tradespeople maintaining the systems that we build, and it needs a reliable supply of energy while those systems expand. Gas remains important to some industrial processes and can support electricity reliability during the transition.

Certain clean energy supply chains also rely on gas today. These include the processing and refining of materials used in renewable technologies. This is a fact, and it's not an excuse to abandon net zero. In fact, the scheme can recognise renewable gas in arrangements that reduce natural gas demand. Its calibration is designed to avoid making gas so artificially cheap that it undermines investment in renewables and storage. We can pursue affordable gas today without giving up on a cleaner energy tomorrow. The alternative is to pretend that we can close one part of the economy before we have built what replaces it. That might earn applause at a rally, but it will not keep a furnace operating or a family employed.

Energy prices flow directly into wages and job security. When a manufacturer pays more for gas, it has less room to invest in equipment, train an apprentice or negotiate a pay rise. If production becomes uncompetitive, overtime disappears, then jobs and then, sometimes, the entire plant. That reaches far beyond the factory gate. It reaches the local cafe, the supplier and the family sitting at the kitchen table working out a mortgage. We should never talk about closing an industry as though we were simply closing a spreadsheet. A worker's pay packet is not an inconvenient footnote in an energy debate—which brings me to One Nation.

One Nation likes to present itself as the champion of working Australians, but workers should look very carefully at what it offers and what it changes. In March this year, One Nation proposed introducing a 15 per cent domestic gas reserve. Then it shifted to a policy based on government taking equity in new offshore projects and subsidising exploration costs. It has moved away from the clear domestic reservation proposal it put before parliament. So where is the guarantee for Australian households and manufacturers under its new approach, and what would its broader rejection of net zero mean for the thousands of workers building Australia's new energy industries? An electrician installing solar panels is a worker. The technician maintaining batteries is a worker. The gas plant operator is a worker. So is the steel worker whose factory needs affordable energy. They should not have to pick which group of workers deserves a future. One Nation cannot claim to speak for wages while treating the energy transition as something we can simply wish away. Gaslighting is not a gas policy. If a party wants working people to trust it, it should explain how its policy protects their industries, their next pay rise and their children's jobs.

And what of the coalition? After years of talking about a gas fired recovery, Australians were left with announcements, subsidies and a market still struggling with price and supply pressures. The coalition itself went to the last election with a gas reservation policy. Now its members must decide whether they will support an actual national framework or find another reason to oppose it. The question is not whether they like the government; the question is whether Australian buyers should have a dependable claim on Australian gas.

It is worth remembering how difficult governing actually is. You have to protect households from high prices without undermining the investment needed for supply. You have to make climate commitments without forgetting workers in existing industries. You have to maintain export relationships and make sure Australian businesses come first in their own market. Sometimes that means disappointing people on both sides. It is easy to demand a higher tax with no account of what happens next, easy to call for the end of gas without explaining the replacement jobs, and easy to promise cheaper energy without doing the work of connecting supply to customers. It is easy to throw rocks from outside of government. It is much harder to build something that works. That does not mean criticism should stop. It means the criticism should be useful: bring evidence; attend inquiries; and meet workers, businesses and environmental groups; propose changes that improve the outcome; and get involved with building the solution, instead of cheering for every difficult decision to fail.

This legislation is not a magic wand. It will require careful regulation, genuine compliance and scrutiny of its effects on supply prices and investment. But it makes a choice about whose interests Australia's resources should serve. We can remain a reliable trading partner without putting Australian users last. We can require industry to meet its obligations without pretending investment is optional. We can cut emissions without abandoning the people whose wages support our communities. We can make decisions for the long-term instead of chasing the next headline. Australian gas should support Australian homes. Australian industry should support Australian jobs. That is the balance this package seeks to strike, and that is the responsibility of governing. I commend the bill to the House.

Why has it taken so long to get the government to secure gas supply? We are a nation with abundant gas reserves. We have the capacity to be able to supply not just our own gas needs but the world's needs. But the Albanese government, at every point, has dithered in their responsibility and taken no interest in a secure gas supply. We all know why. It's because Labor actually doesn't want to use gas.

We still remember the madness. Sorry, not madness—that's being too charitable—the insanity of former Victorian premier Daniel Andrews when he stopped the extraction of gas in Victoria and put it in the state Constitution. That's beyond the definition of an insanity. That's how crazy it was. I see the member for La Trobe here. Do you remember, Member for La Trobe, how, when Labor were in government—oh, sorry, they're still in government, but, I can assure you, with 33 more days, we hope and pray to the Maker that it will end and that the era of tyranny and corruption under the Andrews, Carroll and Allan governments will finally be put to bed for all time—they tried to transition homes out of using gas. They tried to get businesses and industries to stop using gas. Shock, horror—

Rentals.

And rentals! When 90 per cent of Victorian households using gas for heating, cooking and making sure they had proper hot water, there wasn't a huge degree of enthusiasm from the people of Victoria. Their answer was actually: 'We'd quite like to keep using gas. We have the infrastructure and the sunk investment. There is one thing we would like, though: cheaper gas.' That's because gas prices have continued to rise, and it has put further and further pressure on Victorian households.

Why has it taken the Albanese government so long to secure gas supply? It's because the Labor Party doesn't want gas. We know they don't. I still remember when the Minister for Climate Change and Energy—that rapscallion—said that the Kurri Kurri power plant in New South Wales would never be fuelled by gas. It was only going to be fuelled by green hydrogen. That was before the 2022 election. If it wasn't so serious, it would be absolutely hilarious. He made that bold promise and now goes into the House of Representatives and says that he never really believed in hydrogen and its potential as part of the Australian economy, even though he explicitly ruled out the Kurri Kurri Power Station using gas before the 2022 election. I don't even know what more to say about the Labor Party's approach to gas. It's farcical. There is literally more hot air coming out of this government's mouth than is being generated by the gas that they support—but here we are.

After being dragged kicking and screaming in a tantrum-like manner by the coalition—who argued at the last election that we desperately need a domestic gas reservation to secure gas supply because we need to get prices down for Australian consumers, that we need to make sure we have a secure supply for our sovereign needs so that we can reindustrialise and back-in industry—with Labor fighting it every step of the way in the lead-up to that election; after having successfully won that election, Labor has now accepted that maybe, just maybe, we need a gas reservation. Imagine that radical proposition. Now they think they're geniuses, as the member for La Trobe can no doubt attest. They think they're geniuses because they've stumbled on the necessity of some component of secure supply.

But let's talk about the practical reality of what a secure supply means. While we talk about it in the nation's parliament, and we think about these big infrastructure projects and everything else that goes on, obliging energy companies to make sure there's secure supply, it's actually much more human. Let's think about the pensioner who opens up their electricity bill and their gas bill and wonders whether they can afford it. Increasingly, with the government's active inflation agenda, they are having to make choices—because they're going to the supermarket and paying more and getting less. That means one thing. They've got to make choices about things like their electricity bill and their gas bill.

In Victoria, pensioners are opening their gas bills—90 per cent of households use gas for cooking and heating their homes—and enduring incredible shocks and having to make tough choices about their priorities, between whether they can afford to eat a protein or whether they end up having bread and butter for dinner. If anyone thinks that is an exaggeration, they don't understand the challenges that a lot of pensioners face and the choices they face. What about the family who has watched energy prices rise by around 40 per cent under the life of this government and now stands at the supermarket with their red basket or their trolley deciding what goes back on the shelf? Australia 2026, and the choice for Australian families is to put food in their supermarket trolley or pay their gas bill. Well, how do I put it? That is not something to be proud of under the Albanese government, but that is their legacy.

They're not alone, because these are the choices being faced by small-business owners. Gas is a critical part of the infrastructure to keep their businesses going. It's the baker. It's the restaurateur. It's the dry cleaner. Often getting up at a sparrow's fart to work and employ other Australians and provide a service to their fellow Australians. They're faced with higher costs, rising costs, and no end to those costs because of the policies of the Albanese government, particularly around their gas. They are people who rely on gas to open their doors every morning. It isn't a choice. That's the business. Gas is necessary to provide an essential service to the community. They're just watching their costs rise while their revenue falls. There's been a 15 per cent decline in profitability, according to the most recent ABS data. And, of course, they're not just facing the cost rises from gas; they're also facing cost rises from the surcharge ban, inflation, rising wages et cetera et cetera, while the revenue is only going into decline. In fact, dry cleaning is one of the small businesses most likely to face closure and most likely to face increases in costs.

That's at the small business end. Think about the big businesses, the medium-sized businesses and the manufacturers. They employ a lot of local people, but, more importantly, they're part of the industrial strength of our country. Gas is not some sort of esoteric option for them. It's necessary for feedstock. They literally need to turn on the gas to provide the temperature often required for things like melting metals. They're quietly asking whether they've got a future in this country at all between all the rising costs being imposed on them by the Albanese government—and, even more so, because of whether they can secure supply. This is not an abstract concern; this is literally one of the biggest challenges facing our country.

During the last election, the number of times secure gas supply at affordable prices came up when I spoke to small-business people and households and pensioners was incalculable. It came up so often. I still remember going to a dry cleaner in Sandringham and them saying, 'The No. 1 issue for me is gas supply.' He and his husband were desperate to secure the gas supply they needed at the price they needed so they could keep their small business operating. I heard this all over the electorate, but it falls on deaf ears under the Albanese government. They're paying more, and, of course, that doesn't just come with the issue around their business; it comes with the human dimension around anxiety, and it also comes down to whether people can afford to heat their homes during winter. We've just gone through a winter, and now, fortunately, we're in the period of spring, but winter comes around again cyclically, and this is going to be a big challenge for Australian households, particularly for those on fixed incomes and low incomes, in the forthcoming 12 months.

We are a resources superpower. We should never have a shortage of these important resources, but the government has chosen to. The Albanese government has actually chosen shortages, along with state Labor governments. They have actively chosen shortages, which have sold Australians out and sold industry out. We are not going to oppose this legislation for a gas reservation through the House of Representatives. We have a deep distrust of the Albanese government's approach, because, as I said, the government was dragged, kicking and screaming, to a position of eventually adopting a gas reservation. We're going to make sure of that through our process and through the Senate.

This government has no interest in transparency. It was only yesterday we were being given lectures by the government about how things needed to be changed and how we needed to be a kinder and gentler parliament. The Prime Minister was trying to model his best behaviour. But it was only a little less than 24 hours before the member for Watson, the Leader of the House, was running gag orders through the parliament and the Treasurer was introducing legislation into the parliament that he hadn't even bothered to tell anybody about and had tried to sneak through just before midnight yesterday. He doesn't want to have any proper consultation or engagement with the opposition unless we demand it. Now we've seen the government continue to try and sneak through legislation—ram it through the House of Representatives, ignore parliamentary democracy, ignore the will of the people and, certainly, ignore members of the House of Representatives.

We're not going to oppose this legislation, but we are very concerned about what the government is going to do. We are very concerned about whether the government is actually going to get this right. We've seen this a lot during other debates. The government says they're going to bring down prices. Do you remember the $275 reduction in electricity prices? It never happened. Do you remember how they kept saying that all of their energy policies were not just going to deliver $275 of cheaper prices, but going to deliver wholesale price reductions across the entire economy because we were going to enter into a new Labor-Greens nirvana? That's not the lived experience. Do you remember when the Treasurer and the Prime Minister said that we turned the inflation corner? Because, of course, there was no link between government spending and inflation and higher interest rates! It was about March 2025. Since then, the Reserve Bank, the International Monetary Fund, the Australian people and even some of the Treasurer's own colleagues have called that out and made the point that the government is now the key driver of inflation. Once again, the claim of delivering lower prices for Australian households has not materialised under this government.

In fact, Australians are slowly being targeted by this government increasing costs and punishing and humiliating people, removing their basic sense of dignity because they do not have an understanding of economics or the consequences of that implementation. If there were any debate about that, you would just need to go and look at the absolute—I'm not sure it's parliamentary, but there's a word I want to use about the response and the consequences of the last federal budget, which, in part, provided the finances to be able to implement this policy. If you read the Australian Financial Review's analysis from a couple of weeks ago, which went through who said what at different times and who understood the consequence of that budget at different stages, the one thing that was abundantly clear was the government had absolutely no idea what was going on before the budget, when they were designing it and when they were printing it, and they still don't have any idea how they're going to go through with its full implementation. When we raise concerns about this government's gas reservation policy, we don't do so lightly; we do because we know there is a consistent track record of behaviour from a deeply immoral government that is arrogant and fundamentally misunderstands the consequences of its actions.

The consequences of this government's actions is not to build a stronger Australia; it's to weaken it. It's to kneecap small business, undermine families, increase costs on households, and make it harder for Australians to get ahead. I think we need to be very clear eyed that the mad ideology of the Labor Party, as they have co-opted parts of the radical Greens agenda, is selling Australia short. But it isn't just one in some sort of ideological nirvana or isolation. The impacts are human. The impacts are real, because the small businesses of this nation are be brutally punished and tortured by this government. Families are being kneecapped and undermined by the Albanese government. Those that risk capital and want to grow and build a better future are being actively undermined by this government, and some of the most marginalised in our country, particularly those on low incomes, are being made to go cold during winter because this government does not understand the consequences of its decisions. They ought to be ashamed of themselves.

This landmark legislation will establish Australia's first national Domestic Gas Reservation Scheme and ensure Australian gas works for Australians. It delivers on our commitment to secure gas supply for Australians and put downward pressure on domestic gas prices by requiring gas producers to reserve up to 20 per cent of gas exports for domestic use, fixing gas supply shortages. This is about ensuring more Australian gas is available here at home, powering Australian households and ensuring affordable gas for local manufacturing and heavy industry, to create more jobs and grow the economy.

For too long, Australia has been in the perverse situation where, despite being one of the world's largest gas producers, we had shortages and price shocks at home. The scheme will work to ensure Australian households and businesses have access to secure, reliable and affordable gas. And, what's more, gas is vital in supporting renewables and essential for manufacturing and processing critical minerals. It will be a crucial energy source as we make the transition to a low-carbon future, and cheaper gas will help households and businesses make the switch.

If the bill passes, the lost decade of coalition policy failures will finally be put right, securing Australia's energy future as we transition our economy to net zero by 2050. This legislation creates a national gas reservation scheme. It represents a significant structural reform. The three bills together form a package establishing a nationally consistent domestic gas reservation framework. Australian gas supports jobs, investment, regional communities and export earnings and provides economic and energy security for our trading partners. Gas powers Australian homes, underpins our manufacturing and contributes to reliability of our energy system. This scheme is designed to secure Australian gas to Australian homes at fair prices.

To give some context, when we came to power in 2022, the first thing we had to deal with was an energy crisis. What was interesting, when I listened to the member for Goldstein, was the fact that they voted against helping people with energy bill relief and capping gas prices. The coalition voted against this stuff. They voted against the very thing that he is waxing lyrical about and lamenting about us allegedly failing to do. And who could forget the 22 policies and the NEG, which didn't last from the caucus meeting of the coalition until question time? That was the utter dysfunctionality of the coalition during that period of time. So let's get this in context, and let's listen to the reality of what was needed and what was happening. I want to pay tribute to industry and particularly to the union movement, who also backed this gas reservation scheme. I've been at national and state conferences of the Labor Party where we backed this particular policy, so today I'm pleased that we are passing this legislation through the House of Representatives.

We had ageing gas and coal-fired power operations when we came to power—ageing coal-fired generators. Maintenance backlogs are myriad. We experienced extraordinary disruptions in terms of what happened in Ukraine with the illegal and immoral invasion by Russia and the impact on the international gas market—the perfect storm that culminated in gas being offered in the domestic market at much too high prices. Frankly, it's unacceptable to our government and to the Australian people. The regulatory framework we inherited from the coalition—a series of bandaid solutions created in response to previous crises—was ineffective and was expiring. Our government acted quickly and decisively to ensure affordable gas and energy. We reformed and extended the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism and its heads of agreement. We introduced a Gas Market Code of Conduct and we capped gas prices at $12—opposed by the coalition.

Then we set to work to build something better. In 2024, we released our Future Gas Strategy, which set out the role gas will continue to play, particularly in supporting the rollout of renewables for peaking and firming in Australia and for our trading partners. We commissioned our gas market review last year, which recommended establishing a national gas reservation scheme, and over the course of this year the government has consulted extensively, wisely and widely on the detailed design of the domestic gas reservation. In May this year we released our draft design framework for consultation. It set out a headline reservation figure of the equivalent of 20 per cent of export volumes and the regulatory architecture such as an export licence scheme. In other words, the gas reservation scheme for domestic consumption will require gas companies to supply Australians with up to 20 per cent of their exports to ensure a modest domestic oversupply.

As a result of the extensive consultation feedback, further design work was undertaken. We further refined the reservation scheme and we released the exposure of the bill for further consultation in September this year. That exposure draft included the announcement of the demand calibration mechanism, which provided for the Australian Energy Regulator to vary the domestic supply obligation from year to year in response to projected demand, with a target of 110 per cent of that demand. Indeed, the bills that the Minister for Resources introduced on 14 October included further refinements of the scheme based on consultation on that draft bill. It's not like we haven't spoken to people about this.

Some of the changes from the exposure draft included limiting ministerial discretion and making the scheme more transparent, preventing loopholes and making it harder to game the scheme, and ensuring that the states and territories are consulted on decisions that impact them—for example, in relation to market-wide domestic supply obligation adjustments. Importantly, our legislative package abolishes the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism, which will no longer be needed in the circumstances.

A lot has been said about the role of gas in the past year, but it's important to reiterate a few points. Gas is essential to supporting the rollout of renewables, gas is crucial for a strong Australian manufacturing industry, and we need gas to continue heating our homes. We need gas to process more critical minerals and rare earths here in Australia. The reality is that only gas can provide the sustained high temperatures needed at the right cost to process and refine them. We can't have a critical minerals revolution here in Australia without a guaranteed supply of affordable gas.

This is a pretty big day for critical minerals, I might add. It's the first anniversary of the Australia and United States framework for securing of supply of critical minerals, and the government has just launched a refreshed Critical Minerals Strategy with a big focus on economic resilience, national security and industrial capability. More-affordable gas is central to that strategy. We've announced we're backing two major critical minerals projects that boost our critical minerals capability, supporting local jobs and deepening supply chains with international partners.

When it comes to international partners, the reality is we need to keep developing gas to export for our region. We're fortunate to have nearly 50 years of peace and prosperity in the Indo-Pacific. Australia's reliable flow of energy exports has played a big role in regional stability. Indeed, our engagement and our leverage with energy export partners in Asia this year was a case in point. Our trade relations are mutually supportive and have helped us to shore up our domestic fuel supplies and security—as well as urea, I might add. Our exports of gas and coal support the energy security of Japan, South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore, while their refining of liquid fuels like petrol, diesel and aviation fuel keeps Australians moving.

A successful, orderly energy transition relies on continued Australian exports of energy. We should continue to export traditional commodities, resources like gas and coal, while our export markets still need them and while our regional partners follow their own paths to net zero. We understand that no two nations are the same and they'll follow their own strategies. What's important is our commitment to that goal and a peaceful, stable journey towards it so we can minimise the impact of climate change while making sure our local industries and communities have all the energy they need. As I mentioned before, the legislation will be subject to extensive consultation and feedback.

Industry and unions have been calling for a domestic gas reservation scheme for several years and have backed that proposal. Peak bodies like the Australian Industry Group are broadly supportive while the Energy Users Association, which represents major gas users like manufacturers, have applauded the intent of the proposed laws and welcome the legislation. They understand, and the government has acknowledged, that it's reasonable to have some flexibility in terms of how gas exporters meet their obligations under the scheme. They accept we need to respect long-term contracts between exporters and overseas buyers, and these should be exempt from the scheme. I know what a game changer a domestic gas reservation scheme will be for local manufacturing in my outer suburban and regional communities in Blair, for the local economy and for good blue-collar jobs.

For example, Capral Aluminium is the largest producer of aluminium extrusions in Australia and has a major plant in Ipswich in my electorate. There are hundreds of people in my electorate working there in good, unionised jobs. They have been very clear that local manufacturers like them need affordable gas to compete on a global scale, and I visited Capral's facility on numerous occasions. Gas makes up seven per cent of Capral's manufacturing costs. They've said that gas prices are nearly triple what they were five years ago and they're paying three times what they were. From their perspective, our proposed domestic gas reservation scheme is absolutely vital to keeping their prices sustainable and globally competitive.

I also want to take this opportunity to acknowledge the strong advocacy of the mighty Australian Workers' Union on this issue. For over a decade, the AWU have campaigned for a domestic gas reservation policy through their Reserve Our Gas campaign to lower energy prices, protect manufacturing jobs and boost our sovereign manufacturing capability. They've taken that to state and national conferences to pursue that campaign. I want to recognise the leadership of the national secretary, Paul Farrow, in this space, as well as the efforts of Queensland state secretary of the AWU, Stacey Schinnerl in my home state of Queensland. I'm from Queensland, and I know how important the gas industry has been for jobs and investment, particularly in Central Queensland.

We know some industry stakeholders have raised concern about design, workability, implementation of the scheme and the issue of ministerial discretion. I note the bill was referred to the Senate Economics Legislation Committee, and it's due to report on 11 November. Issues from stakeholders, I'm sure, will be raised during the course of that committee inquiry. There's no doubt about that. But I make this point, and I say this to the Greens political party. They're always in favour of reform on issues—whether it's housing, climate change, environment or in areas of gas—until they get faced with the legislation, and then they run. They run away always, the Greens political party.

I'm sure One Nation, for example, will want to hide from their position, abandoning any form of gas reservation policy after having massively championed it. One Nation, the great champions of blue collar jobs, all of a sudden abandoned it to back big business—typical of One Nation. They're always saying one thing and doing another. I want to thank the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, the Minister for Resources, and the Minister for Industry and Innovation for bringing forward this major structural reform.

Australians deserve access to affordable gas, and that's exactly what this reform will deliver. For too long, we've watched gas leave our shores while local households and businesses face uncertainty and rising costs. Despite us being one of the largest producers of gas in the world, we're still suffering shortages and price shocks at home. These reforms lock in more gas for Australians. They strengthen our energy security. They support our energy transition to renewables and help put downward pressure on the price of gas. Our national resources are crucial, and gas is important. It's a national asset. We rightly expect to support our export success and our domestic economic prosperity. This scheme will make Australian gas available to Australian users. In that sense, it's about our sovereign security. It's about our nationalism. It's important that we support it. The legislation is about securing Australian gas for Australian industry.

All members of parliament have a choice, and it's critical that we support this. I say to the crossbench that the Greens political party are always letting the perfect be the enemy of the good, and the One Nation party is always backflipping and selling out Australian workers. I say to the coalition: stand up for regional communities, stand up for blue-collar jobs, back this legislation. To vote against reservation is to vote against blue-collar jobs, and that's what the Greens and One Nation are going to do. I support this legislation.

The irony of all ironies is that Labor members are coming into the chamber to support the gas industry. We just heard the member for Blair talking about the fact that a gas reservation policy apparently has been on their national conference agenda for years and years and years. He talked about the union supporting such a policy for a decade.

Sitting suspended from 18:07 to 18:08

If it were such a priority for federal Labor and the unions, why then, why oh why, didn't they complain to their state colleagues, particularly in Victoria, about the need to drill, baby, drill? In Victoria we've had a situation there for years where the state Labor government, operating out of Spring Street, had this aversion to gas to the point where they demonised the industry for years and years and years. Offshore, onshore—it didn't matter. It didn't matter that we had the CFMEU racking up $15 billion worth of windfall from the infrastructure being spent in that state. If there's one thing that Victorian voters can do on 28 November, it is to get rid of a bad Labor government. It was an Andrews government; then it became, of course, an Allan government; and now it's a Carroll government. But it doesn't matter. They can change the premiers, but they can't and won't alter what that Labor government has done. Whether it's on gas, whether it's on forestry, whether it's on whatever, the Labor government hasn't looked after the interests of Victorians.

I have to say, in New South Wales, too, the Labor governments haven't wanted to drill for additional gas supplies. There are many projects, indeed, in the Pilliga which could be explored and utilised for the nation's benefit.

But I tell you what: there is one person who has never lost sight of what it means to have a good gas policy, and that is the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Lia Finocchiaro. I am a big supporter of that particular leader. Recently, on 22 July in fact, she said that the Beetaloo proposal highlighted the Territory's prominence as the natural hub for data centre development. This is the digital proposal. But more than that, she understands that, whether it's data, whether it's defence—it doesn't matter what—she wants to see development for that particularly progressive Territory. Onsite, gas-fired power generation, utilising what's under the ground at Beetaloo, is going to unlock so much potential for the Northern Territory. Indeed, she understands that you can turn potential into profit. I know, when I was the infrastructure minister and the regional development minister, the efforts that we went to, to help progress what was at Beetaloo. But we were stymied a lot by the then Labor government in the Northern Territory. Fortunately, now we have a Finocchiaro government that wants to see the potential utilised. What we need to see is investment, and more investment, indeed, in getting the Northern Territory the power it needs, to not only make sure that they can get investments for the Northern Territory but also get export opportunities for the Top End and elsewhere in northern Australia.

There was an interesting article in the Australian by Liliana Molina on 23 September, headed '"Economic engine" gas needs policy security, stability'. In that particular article we read that the gas industry is 'one of the country's most consequential economic engines' and that the decisions made about its future will shape the nation's industrial capacity 'for a generation'.

We hear a lot from Labor about its 'made in Australia' policies and its 'made in Australia' sovereign capability. They don't always show the fact that they back 'made in Australia'. You only have to look at what they're doing, by their policies—and certainly in the power space, the energy generation space—to know that they're getting it all wrong. If they aren't getting it all wrong, why is there a need to bail out the alumina sector in Newcastle, in the Hunter? Why is there a need to bail out the steel industry in Whyalla? Why is there a need to bail out the rice industry down in the Riverina, in Leeton, in Finley, in Deniliquin and elsewhere, given their bad water policies, their bad energy policies—their bad policies per se? It is a concern.

We should be a nation pretty much like the United Arab Emirates. I've visited there a number of times to see how that country has taken advantage of the export of the energy, the minerals and the resources that lie under the sand. We've got all of those exports and minerals and all of that energy and potential lying underneath Australia, yet we've had the propensity from that side to not want to do anything about it.

I mentioned Victorian Labor, but you only have to reflect on the very first budget delivered by the Treasurer, the member for Rankin, in which he couldn't even bring himself to use the words 'coal' or 'iron ore'. Instead, he talked about 'the things we sell overseas'. Well, those things that we sell overseas and the good work done by former treasurer Josh Frydenberg helped Labor produce a budget surplus. But for former treasurer Frydenberg and the things we sell overseas, we would be in a far worse economic condition than we are now, and I have to say it galls me greatly when I hear of Labor talking up a trillion dollars worth of debt. That's what we have now under those opposite.

When they inherited the economy in May 2022, it was on the back of COVID-19, which had such a huge effect not only on our economy but on economies right across the world. We know that. But what former treasurer Frydenberg, former prime minister Scott Morrison and the executive team, including, dare I say it, me, did at that time was protect jobs and save lives. Yes, it cost a lot of money, but we kept the doors of business open, we kept the wheels of the economy turning and, most importantly, we kept Australians alive. But that seemed to have been forgotten by the Treasurer, who continually talked about the trillion dollars worth of debt. It wasn't a trillion dollars worth of debt; it was nowhere near a trillion dollars worth of debt. I think he was just making excuses and justifying his position, knowing that he was going to spiral Australia into a trillion dollars worth of debt, and that's, unfortunately, where we find ourselves now.

I want to get back to this article from the Australian. It quoted Australian Energy Producers chief executive Samantha McCulloch, who said:

… Australia's gas industry is not simply a provider of fuel but also one of the country's most consequential economic engines, and policy decisions over the next 12 to 24 months could shape the nation's energy systems and industrial capacity for a generation.

This next quote is really interesting. She said:

Continued investment in new gas supply is critical to Australia's energy security and economic prosperity, delivering jobs, economic growth and opportunities for regional communities …

She went on:

Developing Australia's abundant natural gas resources requires significant capital over many years, making stable and predictable policy settings critical to investor confidence and Australia's long-term energy security.

That is so important, because the article also mentioned the fact that the industry contributes around $105 billion annually to the national economy and supports—wait for this; this is an important number—215,000 jobs. I dare say a lot of those people would be members of unions, so I can't understand why Labor has demonised this sector for so many years. They have done so at a state level and even federally.

The article continued. Just listen to this:

It buys about $33 billion in goods and services from Australian businesses each year and pays around $6 billion in employee salaries.

In 2024-25, the oil and gas sector paid $21.9 billion in taxes and royalties to federal, state and territory governments …

That is revenue that keeps prices down—imagine if we didn't have the gas sector; goodness gracious—keeps the lights on in many places, keeps schools open, keeps hospitals saving people's lives and making sure that people's health is protected. Those things are important, and I don't understand why Labor members have so often demonised the mining industry. Labor, as Australia's oldest political movement, once supported those people who put on the high-vis vests and went out to work and got the dirt under their fingernails—the people who worked in mines, the people who were proud of the fact that they had a coalmining heritage, the people who came out with dirt on their faces and sweat on their brows and worked for a living. But that was when the Labor Party had the U in its name. Unfortunately, the Labor Party has forgotten about you. And when I say 'you', I'm referring to those workers. I'm referring to those people who do work in mines. Of course, these days the Labor Party is just l-a-b-o-r. If I'm not mistaken, I think they took the U out of Labor in 1912. But I digress.

Well, it's not a joke, unfortunately. I'll take that interjection. Sadly, it's not a joke. It's a truism. Labor really needs to start remembering the workers, the workers who made your party what it is and who did build the roads and who did go out and actually work for a living.

But anyway, Ms McCulloch talked about policy uncertainty and—this is interesting—a deteriorating approvals environment and the threat of new taxes. As for approvals, it takes so long to get anything done in this nation, so very long. It doesn't matter whether it's the local, state or federal government level, it just takes too long. As for the threat of new taxes, why do you think, Member for Cook, she would mention new taxes? Because you know why?

Because they love new taxes.

They love new taxes—precisely. Bingo! Labor has never seen a policy where it doesn't think: 'Gee, we could tax this more. We could get more money in with our economic vandalism and policies that could help fund the next stupid idea that comes out of caucus.' Ms McCulloch says that the manufacturing sector is amongst the most exposed to the risk of supply disruption, as natural gas provides 37 per cent of the energy used by Australia manufacturing.

So what we need to do is get back to first principles. What we need to do is make sure that through our policies and our work here—and that goes for both sides of politics and dare I say, given the fact that we've been joined by the member for Bradfield, the crossbench as well—we don't just say we've got a future made in Australia but actually put policies in place that help enact that and actually help the Whyallas, the Deniliquins, the Finleys and the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Areas of Australia and not have to subsidise to the nth degree every single sector. Put in place policies that are going to help people pay their power bills without having to open that bill and think: 'How am I going to pay that? Am I going to heat my house, or am I going to eat for the next week?' That is on Labor because Labor is in government. Labor needs to understand that, yes, it's all well and good to have a Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026, but it needs to start looking after manufacturing, start looking after made in Australia and start looking after households and people struggling to pay the power bills. It starts with small business, and it works all the way up.

I'd like to acknowledge the contribution of the member for Riverina. In this new era where we're considering how we can make this place better, I'd also like to acknowledge that, following my first speech, the member for Riverina was the only member of the coalition who crossed the floor and shook my hand. He said, 'I didn't agree with many of the things you said, but I respect the way you said it.' I'd like to acknowledge that those words and those gestures do mean something, and I appreciate it. I'd also like to acknowledge his dad joke about the way that 'Labor' is spelt, and I'd like to point out that there is no U in Liberal. There is no U in Nationals, and there is no U in coalition, and there never has been.

He spoke about the importance of keeping prices down, and I think he should back the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026 as a result. A national gas reservation policy is something that has been called for, for a long time by many members of the Australian public and many members of my community in Menzies. It's a scheme that has been in place in Western Australia for some time, and, as I said, there have long been calls for a similar scheme to cover the rest of Australia. Australians and people in my community recognise that Australia's resources—our gas—are a national asset. They belong to the people of Australia, and we recognise the important role that gas companies play in the exploration, extraction and processing of gas. We recognise, on this side of the House, that gas companies invest and take risks in extracting gas and that they deserve a return on their investment. But, ultimately, our natural gas resources belong to the Australian people, and they also deserve a return on it.

The domestic gas reservation policy will create a modest oversupply and put downward pressure on gas bills for households and businesses. Those opposite who are calling for cost-of-living relief and who are talking about the pressures created by higher energy prices should back this bill because it will provide cost-of-living relief. It's real, practical support for businesses, industries and everyday Australians. That's what this government is delivering through this bill.

Gas and energy more broadly are vital, of course, to local households in my community and to everybody's community here, in this place, as well as to our local businesses and industries. They literally keep the lights on. We use gas for cooking in many of our homes and in local restaurants. Induction cooking is improving, but my community has a large Chinese Australian community, and there's not really a replacement for gas when it comes to cooking in a wok. I know that there's some induction cooking, and we've seen some other technologies emerging, but a lot of people are still relying on gas. It's vital for manufacturing. It's vital for many industrial activities and for high-heat processes like steelmaking, glassmaking and heavy ceramics. And it remains an important firming fuel in electricity grids. There are other technologies coming online, but we're not there yet. It's also important to acknowledge that it is an important part of our export industries.

The bill that we're debating today was developed methodically by this government. That's how we go about developing our policies and our legislation. In December 2025, the government released the gas market review, which stated its intention to introduce a domestic gas reservation scheme, and this year we've undertaken extensive consultation with gas producers and exporters, with peak bodies, with manufacturers, with unions, with state and territory governments and with our trading partners. An exposure draft of this legislation was released on 10 September, and now we're bringing this bill to the House.

The scheme has two components. First, LNG exporters will be required to hold an export licence. Second, licence holders are required to contribute up to 20 per cent of annual exports to domestic gas markets. The amount of gas that's reserved will be determined by the Australian Energy Regulator to create a modest oversupply in order to put downward pressure on prices. This will ensure prices don't sink below levels which would disincentivise production or undermine our transition to renewable energy, which is something we're absolutely committed to. For LNG exporters with existing contractual commitments, these may be recognised through adjustment mechanisms. They'll be limited in terms of time and circumstances. There aren't blanket exemptions from the domestic reservation requirements.

To meet our commitment to net zero, this bill will enable the Gas Market Code to prescribe circumstances in which renewable gas or arrangements to reduce demand for gas may contribute towards meeting domestic supply obligations. There's also flexibility to take into account the different markets on the east and west coast. Importantly, the cost of administering the regulatory framework will be paid for by industry with a levy on export licences. While the scheme is not expected to have an ongoing impact on the budget, there may be a need for the Commonwealth to provide initial funding before the levy and other cost arrangements are in place.

Many people in my community are concerned about climate change—in places like Doncaster, Templestowe, Surrey Hills and Mont Albert—and they want us to transition away from fossil fuels and towards renewables. I've met regularly with people in my office, people around the community and groups like Menzies for Climate, the Australian Conservation Foundation Community Eastern Rosellas, Parents for Climate and Asian Australians for Climate Solutions. Sometimes, they come and demonstrate outside my office—as is their democratic right—and I appreciate their engagement, I appreciate them sharing their expertise, and I appreciate their passion and idealism. Our government is absolutely committed to the transition to renewable energy. We've got ambitious targets to have 82 per cent of the grid powered by renewables by 2030, and we're making real progress in that regard. We're doing this for a few simple reasons. We believe in climate change. We believe the evidence that's there from experts and scientists around the world. We want a habitable planet for the next generation. I've got children, and we've seen the increasing numbers of natural disasters that are driven by climate change and the effect it's having on our environment, like the increasing regularity and severity of bushfires. I want to ensure that my kids are able to enjoy the nature, the planet and the lifestyle that we had.

The member for Riverina implied that we were no longer backing working people, but the people who are going to be most impacted by climate change are going to be the vulnerable. They'll be the least capable of having the adaptation measures within their homes, and they'll be most affected by food insecurity, by rising sea levels and by having to relocate. We need to make sure that we're providing just outcomes for the next generation. We also recognise, though, that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy. Again, this isn't something that we've come up with from an ideological basis. This is something that the experts tell us, and that's part of the reason why we're pushing ahead with the renewable energy transition.

It's also increasingly clear how important having that commitment to net zero and having the commitment to the renewable energy transition and addressing climate change is to our international relationships—to our middle power partners in Europe and Canada, with other middle powers and with our Pacific neighbours as well. It's allowed us to rebuild our relationship with our Pacific neighbours and, in some cases, allowed us to form stronger economic and defence ties with them. That's because we understand that climate change is an existential threat to many of our Pacific neighbours, some of whom will cease to exist with sea level rises.

In Australia, we also know that we've got a competitive advantage when it comes to renewable energy. We've got abundant wind and solar—the best wind and solar—resources in the world. Australians understand this as well. That's why we have the highest uptake of rooftop solar in the world. When you walk around suburbs in my electorate—I think in most of our electorates—you'll see solar panels all over the roofs.

Nationally, through our Cheaper Home Batteries program, we have installed over half a million solar home batteries. It's around 589,333, according to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy in question time. These are helping households store cheap solar power through our 30 per cent discount. That 589,333-plus number includes 3,639 solar batteries in my community. Recently, we visited Glen, a constituent of mine, who was kind enough to show us his whole solar home battery setup. He was very proud of the app on his phone, and he was able to show us where the peaks and troughs were. I think there's a particular kind of person who can be really proud of how much they're saving and can show you on their app minute by minute and day by day when they're feeding energy into the grid or when they're getting paid back. I was able to visit there with the Special Envoy for Climate Change Adaptation and Resilience, the member for Jagajaga. Glen was able to talk very proudly about he was able to save money and about he's able to manage his household's energy consumption, keeping his energy bills low. He's also taking pressure off the grid and contributing to reducing emissions.

We're making real progress in the transition to renewable energy. On some days, renewable energy now accounts for more than 50 per cent of energy that's generated in the grid, up from 33 per cent in 2022—pretty significant gains in a short period of time. This is a result of the government's investment. The latest of the Australian Energy Market Operator's Quarterly energy dynamics report backs that renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy. Wholesale electricity prices are down 27 per cent compared to this time last year. They've been falling in every state—the lowest September quarter since 2021. For the first time, big batteries supplied more power in the evening peak than gas, so households with solar and batteries are drawing around 75 per cent less from the grid during the evening peak than households with solar alone.

We also want to make sure that we're seizing the opportunities of the renewable energy transition to become a renewable energy superpower. Figures released earlier this month show we've already had more renewable energy investment this year than in 2025, so we'll set a new annual record, and we want to leverage the competitive advantage that we have to create new green industries and rebuild our manufacturing capacity through things like the Future Made in Australia Innovation Fund and the National Reconstruction Fund, creating new industries around green steel, green aluminium and processing critical renewable energies and also clean aviation fuels.

But we know that gas still has a role to play. We're working on these things. We're working on the transition. But gas still has an important role to play in firming the grid. It is being supplanted by batteries—community batteries and home batteries—but we need to recognise that particularly in some of those manufacturing industries, the heavy industries, there's still no alternative.

We've also ensured that the Australian people are benefiting more from gas by reforming the petroleum resource rent tax. In the last financial year, the PRRT revenue increased by more than 26 per cent, rising from $1.48 billion in the 2023-24 financial year to $1.87 billion in 2024-25. This is the second-highest amount since reporting began.

Just as Australian households, businesses and industries are still reliant on gas, we need to recognise that many of our allies are as well. Japan, the United States and South Korea are all export markets for our gas. Just as we cannot ask the Australian people to endure energy shortages and blackouts and we cannot ask industry to close while we're making a renewable energy transition, we can't ask that of our allies either.

When the recent war in the Middle East broke out, causing the current international energy crisis, being a reliable supplier of gas became incredibly important for securing our own domestic fuel supply. While those opposite were fuelling panic and recommending things like fuel rationing—hoping that people would forget that, the last time they were in government, they let four refineries close—we took action. As the Treasurer said in question time today, we had a $15 billion fuel security package, including $1.16 billion for cleaner fuel programs. But we were also able to rely on some of the relationships that we've been developing in our region since we were in government in order to obtain further fuel by leveraging us being a reliable partner in providing gas to secure more liquid fuels and to secure more fertiliser with countries like Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia to make sure that we could keep our agricultural sector running and that we could keep other essential services like freight running.

This bill is another step in securing cheaper and cleaner energy. It will help Australian households, businesses and industries. It will ensure Australians gain greater benefits from our sovereign finite resources—our natural gas. This is something that Australians have been calling for for a long time, and this is something that the Albanese Labor government is delivering. I commend the bill to the House.

We pay too much—way too much—for our own gas here in Australia. The government has failed to appropriately regulate private contracts, which has in part led to a domestic supply problem. We also don't get our fair share from our gas that's sold overseas. The government has failed to appropriately tax our finite natural resources, and it continues to fail to do that at a time when our nominal national debt is the highest it has ever been. The Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026 tries to do something about that—about the first problem, that is. But it does not seek to address the second.

I went to the election in 2025 calling for a national gas reservation scheme, and it's hardly a radical idea. It was then supported by the then opposition leader. It is the most basic thing that a gas-rich country can do—make sure that its own people get first dibs on its own resources. Western Australia has done it for 20 years. The east coast never did the same, and now we are literally paying the price. When the Gladstone export terminals opened a decade ago, east coast gas suddenly became tied to higher international prices. Domestic prices roughly trebled. So I support this bill because it tries to do something about that. It's a step forward for every household and business that has asked me how we, as one of the world's biggest gas exporters, ended up here, in Australia, with our own gas affordability problem.

But it's obvious that this bill doesn't solve all our problems. More than half of the gas we export attracts no royalties, and over five years Japan has raised more by taxing the gas it imports from us than we raised from the PRRT. Japan gets more tax from our gas than we do. Now, a well-functioning market does not look like this. This is a rort. But this bill does nothing about that.

Let me pause to put this bill into the context of the Australian energy economy one-quarter of the way through the 21st century. Despite the ups and downs of the climate wars, commitments to climate change have seen a reduction in the growth of greenhouse gas emissions, principally through changes to land based systems but also through switching out fossil fuel powered electricity with renewables like solar and hydro. Just under half of Australia's electricity market is now powered by renewables. So Australia is well on the way to its 82 per cent of renewables set for 2030. I don't think we're going to get there in time; we may fall short. But the benefits of energy security and sovereignty and to the cost of living mean that we will stay the course.

Now, the Australian economy is also definitely going to need fossil gas for some users into the future. It provides firming as we roll out renewables, although this will become increasingly more expensive as batteries provide more storage into the electricity market and do that much more cost effectively over the coming months and years. Fossil gas also has high-value uses in certain industries—as a feedstock for plastics and polymers, for example, and to transport chemicals in, say, medical applications. That's why it's so important that we address the regulation of gas, domestic and export, fossil and renewable, taking a concerted, long-term strategic view about its use. And it's why any discussion of the gas reservation scheme should have a wide range of industry stakeholders in the room—not just those fossil gas companies with existing contracts but also stakeholders from a broader range of sectors, current and future. It's also why any discussion of a gas reservation scheme should include financiers, providers of debt equity and insurance, who can and do take a global view of international energy markets and economies. And it's why any discussion of a gas reservation scheme should start with a discussion of the absence of a gas export tax.

Australians across the political spectrum are crying out for us to get our fair share of natural resources to pay for all of the public and social services that we deeply value and desperately, badly need. The government is ignoring these calls, and I believe that is a grave mistake. I urge it to change its position.

If we have to take this bill on its own merits, on its own terms, does it achieve what it sets out to do, which is to ensure Australians can get access to their own gas reserves at affordable prices? Now, on this front, it does make some steps forward, but it's far from perfect. From 1 January 2028, anyone exporting LNG is going to need a licence. In return, licence holders must supply the domestic market with gas equal to up to 20 per cent of what they export, and the Australian Energy Regulator will enforce this domestic supply obligation backed by civil penalties. Rather than a grid flat rate mandate for every exporter, the regulator can calibrate and lower each domestic supply obligation percentage to maintain an aggregate domestic supply target of 110 per cent of the forecast demand.

The bill also contains a deemed supply provision. Some things count towards an exporter's domestic supply obligation without being a direct gas sale, including supply of renewable gas or helping customers cut their gas use—for example through electrification. This last part is a great provision. We've got to take a step back here and remember that, while many households and industries currently use gas, we don't want or can't afford that to be the case for decades to come. The more that we can electrify these houses and businesses, the better for the hip pocket, the better for our climate and the more resilient and internationally competitive our economy becomes.

Let's go to where the bill falls short. First, nothing in this bill guarantees that we're going to see lower gas prices here. The government argues that, by ensuring a modest oversupply of gas, prices are going to go down. That may be the case. But it refuses to say by how much, to set a specific target against which we can measure progress or release modelling underpinning the government's assertions or decisions. Second, the ministerial discretions are too wide. The default reservation is 20 per cent of exports. The minister can lower that figure, granting adjustments for existing export contracts, stretching obligations over long periods at lower percentages and exempting some export facilities altogether. To be clear: again, I'm a pragmatist not a perfectionist, and I believe that some flexibility may indeed be necessary.

These are big changes to the existing market. The minister may need to grant an exemption, for example, if some exporters are actually already reserving gas under the WA reservation scheme. But these ministerial powers need to be carefully calibrated to ensure that we're not creating loopholes that exporters will exploit and therefore rip off the Australian taxpayer. Specifically, the government should ensure that the reservation can't be gamed with dodgy gas deals with third parties or promises of investment in speculative and expensive new gas basins. All that would do would be to reserve high cost gas for Australians and make it harder to address the climate crisis. That's why I'm moving an amendment to this bill.

The bill already recognises that cutting demand for gas through electrification can count towards an exporter's domestic obligation. That is good. My amendment makes those options a 'must do' rather than an afterthought. Before the minister can reduce, defer or exempt any supply obligation, they must first satisfy that a demand reduction through electrification or renewable gas has been genuinely pursued, because the real long-term answer to high gas prices is to use less gas. The cheapest gas, in fact, is the gas that you never have to buy.

Every home that switches to a heat pump and an induction cooktop—yes, there are fantastic induction woks available—and every factory that electrifies its process heat can plan its energy costs years ahead. Electrification lowers bills, lowers emissions and lowers our exposure to markets that we do not control. We need to electrify the economy at pace. The technology is here. What we've been missing is the investment and the political will.

I support this bill, and I want to thank the minister's office for engaging with my office on this critical initiative. I need to urge the government to adopt my amendment and others from the crossbench. I also urge the government also to legislate a gas export tax as soon as practically possible.

I rise today to speak in support of reducing the cost of energy bills and the cost of living, reducing the cost of doing business in Australia and increasing our energy sovereignty and in support of a transition to clean and renewable energy and Australia's goal of net zero by 2050. We have before the parliament an innovative approach and solution to some of these challenges with the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026 and two related bills, the Domestic Gas Reservation (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2026 and the Domestic Gas Reservation Levy Bill 2026. This package of reforms to gas supply delivers on a simple idea: a fair share at a fair price. Australia's gas is an asset which belongs to all Australians. Our government is committed to delivering a nationally consistent domestic gas reservation framework. Gas powers Australian homes and industry and contributes to the reliability of our energy system. Australians expect our national resources to serve our national interest. Australians also expect a reliable supply of affordable gas at home.

For many years, many Australians have been calling for better management of our gas resources in our national interest. The gas market review recommended that fundamental reform of Australia's gas market was needed and recommended establishing a national gas reservation scheme. Extensive consultation has been undertaken since the release of the gas market review in 2025. Gas producers, exporters, peak bodies, manufacturers, unions, state and territory governments and trade partners have engaged in this discussion through formal consultation processes.

The proposed framework informed by this consultation will require exporters of liquefied natural gas to hold an export licence and meet a domestic supply obligation. This will require LNG exporters to contribute up to the equivalent of 20 per cent of their exports to domestic gas markets. The framework does not limit the amount of LNG that may be exported. It instead ensures a reliable and appropriate domestic contribution in the form of gas sold to domestic customers at prices agreed in commercial negotiations between buyers and sellers. An important commitment by our government is that Australia will remain a reliable energy trading partner both now and into the future.

Australia has two distinct domestic gas markets: the east coast gas market, which includes the Northern Territory, and the west coast gas market in Western Australia. Conditions in one market do not necessarily reflect conditions in the other. The bill recognises this physical separation and provides scope for obligations to be calibrated to the supply and demand conditions of each market based on the circumstances at the time. This bill makes reliable domestic natural gas supply a normal and predictable part of LNG export activity. Our government's aim is to strengthen Australia's energy security and improve the predictability of domestic supply in the long-term interests of Australian households and businesses, while providing greater regulatory certainty and maintaining Australia's position as a reliable LNG exporter and trading partner.

Australia's gas export industry ramped up a little over a decade ago. We are now one of the largest exporters of liquefied natural gas to the world. We have an abundant supply, and we need to structure the market to make sure our needs are also met. I'm pleased to say that, as a nation, we have managed to build a strong and growing renewable energy market and our reliance on fossil fuels, especially on coal and gas, has been declining. We are advancing electrification for households and for businesses. This is good for the planet, for household budgets and for our future. But, right now, we still need gas as part of our energy mix, especially for major industries like steelmaking that are critical to our manufacturing and construction needs. We should not be making it impossible for our major industries to access reliable supply and pay their energy bills. Ballooning gas prices are one part of the cost-of-living crisis we are all trying to combat, and there is really no reason for this cost crunch other than a decade of piecemeal reform and missed opportunities for a country that has an abundance of gas.

Australians are facing a cost-of-living crisis, one that the Albanese Labor government did not create but is taking action to control. We have provided important rebates and subsidies. We're providing cheaper medicines, and we have substantially increased the number of fully bulk-billing GP practices so that Australians can put their health needs first. We've made getting a trade qualification easier for many Australians through our free-TAFE initiative. These and other measures are designed to make things easier for Australians both now and into the future. This approach has also informed how we are addressing domestic gas reform. We want to deliver Australians more gas at affordable prices.

In the Illawarra, and relevant to my electorate of Whitlam, is BlueScope, an icon of Australian industry which is woven into the fabric of our community. The Illawarra is the home of steelmaking in New South Wales, with BlueScope in Port Kembla. BlueScope employs thousands of people across the region, is a major income generator for Australia and provides steel products for our nation and the world. But BlueScope has reported, in recent times, losses to their profit margins, and, in their analysis, this is due to the increasing price of gas. BlueScope needs and uses large quantities of energy. BlueScope requires 24/7 power supply. BlueScope understands that we are transitioning to renewables, and it may be well placed to be a world leader in producing green steel in the future. However, BlueScope has publicly stated that some electrification technology processes are not yet commercially viable and that it expects to remain a significant gas user as part of its broader decarbonisation pathway. The company has also indicated future lower emissions steelmaking technologies could require substantial gas volumes before hydrogen becomes commercially competitive.

For the time being, Australia will rely on gas as part of our energy mix. Gas does not make up a dominant part of Australia's overall energy mix. However, it's still necessary, particularly while solar, battery, wind and other technologies are being advanced and rolled out. Industries like BlueScope need gas right now, but they should not be exposed to export based pricing. Once again, this reflects our government's commitment: our gas belongs to Australia, and our domestic gas should be priced by and for Australia. BlueScope is a major employer in the Illawarra. It's a major export earner for Australia. It needs reliable energy at a fair price, and the same applies to the many other allied metal processing and advanced manufacturing industries in the region that have high energy demands.

Elsewhere in my electorate is the Dunmore industrial precinct. This supports the quarrying, concrete and construction materials production that serve the Illawarra and Sydney markets. These industries commonly rely on gas for drying, heating and other energy intensive processing. I believe the future of these industries will also be supported by more clean and renewable energy over time, but, for them to have a future and provide jobs and products that we all rely upon, they need to be able to pay their energy bills today. Our gas reservation policy aims to give these industries that opportunity. We will do this by providing a modest oversupply of gas into the local market to push prices back down—prices that have only escalated because of international demand, rather than domestic supply, and have set an unrealistic price. We want these industries to be successful, and we want them to be sustainable. We want them to ultimately invest in clean, renewable energy that is fit for purpose, but, right now, they face an energy price squeeze because of export market dynamics, and our government is acting to address this challenge in the interests of Australian industry, Australian jobs and Australian consumers.

Australia collects tax on productive activity for our Commonwealth. We use that tax to build and maintain infrastructure that helps business and industry operate in our country. We use that tax to grow and support the workforces for these businesses and industries. We use that tax for Medicare, schools and services. The gas sector is subject to tax that contributes to all of these purposes, including the petroleum resources rent tax, or PRRT. For too long, the PRRT was not fit for purpose, particularly for the emerging LNG export sector. We have recently amended the PRRT so that Australia will receive a greater share of royalties from gas sales in future, but this doesn't fix the gas price issue for Australian businesses and consumers. A new tax on gas will not directly bring down gas prices. That's why we need a policy that targets supply, and that's what this gas reservation package will do.

By carefully increasing domestic supply, we will create conditions for the sale of gas at prices that Australians can better afford. We also want to make sure there is a viable market for companies to sell gas in Australia. If we oversupply, the price may go too low too quickly or fluctuate too much. This could make it difficult for local companies to sell gas into the domestic market. We are offering a market based solution through the gas reservation reform package. The Australian Energy Regulator will be tasked with monitoring gas demand. It will determine the amount of additional gas needed to provide the local market with a modest oversupply to put downward pressure on prices. This mechanism will manage gas suppliers to provide the equivalent of up to 20 per cent of their export volume for this purpose. The third bill in this package sets up an industry levy. A levy will also make the implementation of this policy cost neutral for the budget.

There is a broader issue confronting Australia which our reforms will also address, and that is our energy security in an increasingly volatile world, Australia's energy security depends not only on the energy we produce but on whether Australian households and businesses can reliably access it. Recent global events have shown us that abundant resources are not enough, if domestic supply is vulnerable to tight markets and global price pressures. Our reforms address this practical sovereignty challenge. Exporters will have to supply a modest percentage equivalent to their export production to the Australian market. That's alongside reforms intended to support domestic supply and energy security.

The government's Future Gas Strategy links energy security and affordability with decarbonisation and with the legislated goals of reducing emissions and reaching net zero by 2050. Our task is to manage that transition responsibly by safeguarding dependable supply for consumers and industry, supporting clean energy growth and maintaining Australia's ability to make decisions in the national interest. Reserving gas is one practical tool within that transition. It's not a commitment to greater gas consumption but a way to help ensure essential domestic needs are met as Australia decarbonises. Our gas reservation package has the backing of major industries.

High energy prices set by the gas export market have had flow-on effects to all businesses and onto families and households who need to put food on the table. The Albanese Labor government has already made a big difference with the rollout of cheap solar and wind power for households, small business and larger industries. We are driving innovation in electrification. One in three Australian households now have rooftop solar, which is an extraordinary statistic. Half-a-million home batteries have been installed through our government's Cheaper Home Batteries Program. We have funded 400 community batteries across Australia. Small and medium businesses are taking up cheaper renewables through our Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme. Together, electric and hybrid vehicles now represent more than half of new vehicle sales, and we are asking large data centres to invest and bring their own renewable energy.

Our government is taking practical action to reduce carbon emissions and help reduce the cost of energy for all Australians, both now and into the future. But right now we still need gas, especially for some heavy industries and some manufacturers to firm and back up their need for constant and intensive energy. That's why our package of gas reservation reform deserves the support of this House.

Australia's domestic gas market is at a tipping point. Longstanding and clearly identifiable structural weaknesses in our domestic gas market have been exposed by Russia's 2022 invasion of Ukraine. Despite being one of the largest exporters of liquefied natural gas in the world, because of our longstanding policy failures, Australians have been exposed to the same cost of energy shocks as energy-importing nations. Global energy prices have surged, and Australian households and businesses are paying the price. Household electricity bills have jumped by about $400 a year on average. It's a bit of a disgrace, actually, that Australia still continues to produce so much more gas than it consumes, and yet we're still facing potential shortages at home.

The Gas market review, completed in 2025, found that total gas production in Australia is roughly four times annual domestic consumption, but domestic regulators, including the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission and the Australian Energy Market Operator, continue to warn about possible shortages of gas to power our homes, our businesses and our industries—shortages which could emerge from 2029 on the east coast and from 2030 on the west coast of Australia.

The vast majority of Australian gas production still goes overseas. In 2024-25, almost 74 per cent of domestic gas production was exported. The challenge facing Australian households and manufacturers is not a lack of methane under our earth; it is that too much of our gas is unavailable to the domestic market. And it is particularly galling, given that fact, that Japan and China, Australia's two largest LNG customers, are increasingly reselling our gas to third countries for profit. The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis has claimed that, in 2024, Japanese companies sold between 600 and 800 petajoules of Australian LNG, mostly to Taiwan and South Korea. That's onselling of up to 1½ times the total annual gas consumption of eastern Australia. IEEFA has further claimed that Chinese companies made about $1.6 billion reselling Australian LNG between 2021 and mid-2026 and that they're on track for their most profitable year yet in 2026.

Successive governments have attempted to address our broken gas policies with a patchwork of mechanisms. The heads of agreement with east coast gas exporters, the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism and the mandatory Gas Market Code have all sought to improve domestic supply and to moderate higher prices since the 2022 price of energy crisis. But the Gas Market Review concluded last year that these instruments cannot guarantee or direct a supply of gas and that they provide insufficient long-term certainty for investment and supply.

We need a simpler and more durable framework; hence, the gas review recommended a domestic gas reservation—a scheme able to increase volumes available to the domestic market and mitigate forecast shortfalls, increase supply diversity and improve upstream price competition. It does make sense to replace a system that requires exporters to offer gas to the domestic market with one which will require gas to be supplied to the domestic market. That could significantly strengthen the bargaining position of Australian gas users and, given that Australia remains mired in a prolonged cost-of-living crisis, it's contingent on all of us to support efforts by this government to reduce gas prices for households, manufacturers and small businesses.

The legislation will deliver greater certainty for our markets and for consumers, but there's still room for improvement across several aspects of the scheme. One of the most striking features of this legislation is the degree of ministerial discretion that it enshrines. Responsible ministers retain vast discretion to vary exporters' supply obligations, with little or no recourse for decisions to be contested or reviewed. The government has not yet responded to the widespread concerns about the extent of ministerial discretion expressed by many expert groups in their responses to the exposure draft of this legislation. As the Grattan Institute and IEEFA have warned, this level of ministerial discretion introduces significant uncertainty and risk for both buyers and also sellers. Setting the level of oversupply between zero and 10 per cent of domestic demand and adjusting domestic supply obligations for individual exporters without clear guardrails and guidelines could well create further uncertainty about future supply, both in aggregate and also from individual exporters. Markets function best when rules are transparent and predictable, not when they're subject to the vicissitudes of changing ministers and governments. A manufacturer weighing a 20-year investment horizon shouldn't have to speculate about how future ministers might exercise broad discretionary powers over the energy that they need to operate.

A second concern is the duration of export licences. Under this legislation, those licences could be granted for terms of 20 to 50 regulated periods, which effectively permits licences lasting for as long as half a century. This increases the likelihood that such licences will later have to be either revoked or amended. Clearly, this could increase investment uncertainty and raise concerns, at least potentially, regarding perceptions of sovereign risk. Additionally, Australia has pledged to hit net zero emissions well before those licences held by gas exporters to supply our domestic market reach their fifth decade. Licences extending for 40 years or more could well drive both increased domestic and global emissions beyond Australia's net zero commitments and also take us beyond the Paris Agreement. IEEFA has suggested shorter, 10-year licences would provide sufficient certainty for LNG contracting while allowing sufficient flexibility for governments to periodically reassess market conditions and our emissions trajectory. The member for Mackellar will move an amendment to that end, and I do support it.

Another issue raised by experts is the bill's oversupply mechanism. This legislation creates a means of ensuring that sufficient gas is available for the domestic market. Each year that number will be set by the minister, based on expert advice, at 10 per cent above projected total domestic demand. It's been argued that that 10 per cent buffer is potentially excessive—in fact, that it could create unnecessary price pressure on domestic producers—and that a more modest two to five per cent oversupply buffer would be adequate to provide the government with certainty of supply and also with the downward pressure on prices that it's seeking, but also with appropriate market forces remaining, such as to encourage electrification of homes and businesses. In other words, there would be enough gas for those households and businesses which still rely on it, but no more than is necessary; enough gas for manufacturers and trade-exposed industries that have limited short-term alternatives to gas, and just enough gas to smooth the shift to renewable energy.

A national gas reservation is one part of a broader suite of climate and energy policies which are driving our historic transition from polluting fossil fuels to clean energy. While a gas reserve is welcome, the long-term solution to energy affordability is electrification, powered by abundant, affordable renewable energy. Helping households to replace gas appliances with more efficient alternatives and businesses to electrify their industrial processes, while expanding our renewable generation and supportive infrastructure, has to be our endgame in reducing pressure on Australia's domestic gas market.

While a mechanism which secures affordable access to our own natural resources is important, we're still awaiting fair taxation of those exported resources. It's been reported that Australia's gas exporters are set to reap a $23 billion windfall this year off the back of the conflict in the Middle East. We're still giving up about $50 million every day, while multinational gas companies pay next to nothing in corporate tax and the PRRT. The best time for the government to fix these broken gas laws was four years ago. The next best time is now.

Finally, I want to address a rapidly emerging challenge to our energy security. The amendment I have circulated raises concerns about the extraordinary increase in construction of energy-intensive data centres in Australia and their potential impact upon our future energy needs. In the United States, the rapid growth of data centres has contributed to a near-tripling of gas-fired energy capacity in 2025 alone. Further increases are anticipated this year. Closer to home, the Energy Market Operator has predicted that data centres will account for at least 13 per cent of demand in the National Energy Market within the next decade. If gas is to be reserved for domestic users, that gas should benefit the households and traditional industries that underpin our economic resilience. I therefore urge the government and the regulators to ensure that the gas saved for Australian purposes by this scheme is reserved for Australian homes, critical infrastructure and businesses, not for energy-intensive data centres.

This bill represents an acknowledgement that our gas market is not functioning in the best interests of Australian consumers. It recognises that the global market poses unreasonable risks to domestic gas supply and to energy affordability. For that reason I support the establishment of a domestic gas reservation. However, given how foundational a national gas reservation is to the future of our energy market, I feel strongly that this legislation should include stronger limits on ministerial discretion. It should provide shorter and more realistic export licence periods. It should adopt a more modest oversupply buffer. And it should better align with Australia's climate commitments. I urge the government to strengthen the bill and to continue the more extensive work of building an energy system that is affordable, secure and compatible with our net zero future. With that, I move amendments (1) to (2) as circulated in my name:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House calls on the Government to implement a 25 percent gas export tax, which would lower domestic gas prices while raising revenue for Australians who desperately need cost-of-living help".

Is the amendment seconded?

I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.

I rise to support the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill 2026, the Domestic Gas Reservation (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2026 and the Domestic Gas Reservation Levy Bill 2026. In doing so, I congratulate the ministers who have put these bills together: the Minister for Resources, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, the Minister for Industry and Innovation and the Minister for Science. This is part of the government's wider strategy to bring back manufacturing in Australia, as the government says, for a future made in Australia.

Former prime minister Paul Keating said that 'if you change the government, you change the country'. The reason for the economic dislocation that we have in the community today and in working-class communities especially, like the one that I grew up in and the one that I represent today, is that—we have seen three things happen to our economy over the last 30 to 40 years: privatisation, economic rationalism and unfettered free trade. On that last point, to me, unfettered free trade means that we absolutely should have lower tariffs. It would be the silliest thing to put tariffs up to make imports more expensive for consumers in Australia. But what unfettered free trade has meant is that our local manufacturing industries are competing against state owned and state subsidised industries overseas. For that we have seen the destruction, the utter collapse, of our textile industries in Australia and we have seen our manufacturing industry teetering on the brink of utter collapse.

I listened to the UK prime minister deliver his speech to the party conference a couple of weeks ago. He put it slightly better than me, but it was still those three main things: privatisation, deregulation and deindustrialisation. It has devastated our communities and it has caused the angst and the inequality that we see today. Change the government, and you change the country. Since 2022 we have seen through the Albanese Labor government a change in direction and a rejection of the status quo. We are not going to just stand by and watch our foundational industries—the industries that we have left—completely collapse and fall apart.

I like to surprise people. It's easy for a Labor member to quote Paul Keating. It's not so easy for a Labor member to quote Peter Dutton or to say that one of their economic role models is a Liberal premier. But I can do both of those things. One of my economic role models is Thomas Playford, who was the premier in South Australia from the forties—during World War II, in fact—until the seventies. His economic philosophy, as it was around the country, was about investing in public housing and public energy. You saw with that government, which was carried on by the Dunstan Labor government that came after him, an investment in public housing, with a strategy to keep the cost of living and rents down for workers. That meant that the pressure would be off wages, which was what attracted manufacturing businesses.

If you look at the suburb of Elizabeth, it was a suburb of public housing. It was built around the car industry—in fact, it was built for the car industry—to keep the pressure off wages and to keep rents down, but living standards could be so high. In fact, the high point of South Australian public housing was sometime in the nineties, where something like more than 40 per cent of rentals in South Australia were public housing. Then, across the country, 20 per cent of rentals in the country were public housing, but today that figure is 10 per cent. If you go to the Gold Coast, to parts of the area that I represent, it is five per cent. And it's unsurprising—I mean, you think about it: if you want to support small business, how does small business properly pay the wages of somebody that's got to spend $800 a week to pay for a crappy little three-bedroom house in the outer suburbs of South-East Queensland? Eight hundred dollars a week! How does a small business really pay those wages? But they have to, because that's what the cost of living is.

So the strategy was with energy. Here I'll quote Peter Dutton—not that I'll do that a lot. I thought Peter Dutton really summed it up perfectly when he said—in fact, I've forgotten the exact quote, but the punchline was 'energy is the economy'. Energy is not just part of the economy; energy is the economy. When you look at us, you'll see we're a society born of the Industrial Revolution—an economy born of the Industrial Revolution, of steam and coal of the 19th century, of oil and the internal combustion engine of the 20th century, and of electricity and renewable energy of the 21st century. Energy is the absolute—as I said, it's not just the bedrock of the economy; energy is the economy.

So it was that, in South Australia, but around Australia as well, we had state owned, publicly owned, energy assets which provided electricity as an essential service, not to make a profit off pensioners but to give a break to people, to keep the cost of living down for people, and also to keep the cost of business down for manufacturing. Publicly owned housing and publicly owned energy assets really made Australia, after World War II.

In the eighties and the nineties, we started to follow this mind virus of economic rationalism where we thought that the private sector could always do better. I'm all about entrepreneurialism. Anybody that has sat through one of my speeches would know that I quite often talk about my own experiences building my own companies. The spirit of entrepreneurialism is the spirit of being human. It's about following your passion. It's about finding your dreams and pursuing them. It is about what you'll always find, I think, when it comes to really following your passion—that is, it is about finding the best contribution that you can make to other people. That's, to me, what entrepreneurialism is. That's, to me, what business is. The best businesspeople that I ever saw, that I ever worked with and worked for, were people that didn't really care about the money; they just had this burning idea: to help other people. The fact that they could make money out of it—well, that was almost secondary.

There is a role for government that has not been played by government since the 1990s. This government is about reclaiming that role by getting in there and, initially, protecting what's left—protecting our foundational industries, whether it's steel in Whyalla, whether it's lead in Port Pirie, whether it's aluminium in Gladstone and Newcastle or whether it's copper in Mount Isa and Townsville. It's about getting in there and protecting those foundational industries, because that is all that we have left, and it is about building on those foundational industries as well. So it is that we have, through the Future Made in Australia, a strategy to bring manufacturing and sovereign capability back to our country and to breathe life back into the working-class communities that are struggling to get by.

One of the key parts of this is the Domestic Gas Reservation Bill, because what this bill does is to literally pump energy back into the economy. It is about this recognition that what made Australia great, post World War II, was cheap energy—which, by the way, is the reason I think it is such a wrench for our economy to transition away from coal. Not only has coal been such a important part of mining towns like the one I came from—which is not a coalmining town, of course—around Australia; cheap coal has been also such an important input into the economy. Moving away from that is a wrench both for the communities that dig it out of the ground and for the whole of Australia that relies on the cheap promise that coal gave to us for so many decades. So it has been a wrench.

As the world transitions away from coal, and as our coalfired power plants become obviously uneconomical to replace, we can't just throw our hands up and let the market do it, because the market's not doing it. Leave it up to the market, and all our gas goes overseas. So we have to intervene. We have to make sure that our strategic, domestic and economic interests are looked after. And that's what is at the heart of this gas reservation.

It is also, I think, a recognition that we are saving the gas companies from themselves. Either the gas companies have nobody advising them on public relations at the moment, or they're just wilfully blind to it, but the pressure that is out there in the community for the gas companies to actually do their fair share is overwhelming. And, unless they come to the party and realise that this is actually going to help them keep their own social licence, they really could lose their social licence. At the end of the day, this is our gas. It belongs to us. And this is about making sure that we get the benefit of this natural resource that belongs to us.

I'd also just make the point that this bill is very sensible and practical. It recognises that there are existing contracts, and it respects those existing contracts with international suppliers. That is important for a variety of reasons. One, of course, is that Australia needs to be a good place to do business. International companies need to know that the rules aren't just going to change instantly, under their feet. Those current arrangements need to be respected. The other thing—and it's been shown in this fuel crisis, since February this year—is that gas has given us enormous leverage on an international stage. It's given us the ability to really secure the petrol and diesel that we need to run, because those countries need the gas that we have to run. It is important, in the world that we are in today, that the relationships we have with countries like Japan, which are so critical to the future of Australia's success, are maintained by respecting the contracts that exist at the moment.

This is not a radical tear-up of the way things are working, but it is a change of the status quo. It is a change of the status quo, because we need to look after our own energy security first. We can no longer be a country at the end of international supply lines. We have to come first. Our people have to come first. Our communities have to come first, both in security and in opportunity.

So I commend this bill to the House. This bill sits in that great strategy of Future Made in Australia. It sits there alongside Rewiring the Nation, where we are modernising the grid for the energy economy of the 21st century. It sits beside the National Reconstruction Fund, where this government is investing in businesses like Gilmour Space, in the heart of Forde, my electorate, where we are literally looking to the stars for the future of Australian manufacturing. It sits within the strategy of maintaining and defending our foundational industries around regional Australia—the foundational industries that keep the cities going. I commend this bill to the House.

Debate interrupted.