Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is addressed to Senator Ruston, who is representing the Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia. The Australian government used the weakest gas laws in the world to attract foreign oil and gas companies to exploit Australia's offshore deposits of natural gas. The government now receives approximately $200 million a year for the offshore natural gas taken from the North West Shelf, which drives tens of billions of dollars of exports, including to China, where we supply 10 per cent of their total energy requirements. Failure to get a fair payment for our offshore gas represents a gift of billions of dollars a year to foreign oil and gas companies. This is money better spent on Australians. What has stopped the government from implementing a single recommendation from the 2017 Callaghan report so Australia can be fairly paid for its offshore gas?