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

I move:

That there be laid on the table by no later than 4 pm on 15 March 2021 the answer to question on notice No. 2391.

On 13 April 2017, Michael Callaghan handed the final report of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, PRRT, Review to the government. Like many others, I want to know how many of the recommendations have been implemented. On 7 December 2020, I asked the Treasurer to provide details of the legislative implementation of the 12 recommendations made by Callaghan nearly four years ago. I have had no reply to my written question on notice No. 2391.

The government can be likened to a meandering river which seeks the easiest path as it makes its way to the sea. We see that in the management of Australia's offshore oil and gas resources. The vast reserves of oil and gas under the seabed off the coast of Western Australia have been sold too cheaply to foreign owned oil and gas companies, and now the investor-state dispute settlement, ISDS, provisions in free trade agreements make it costly to right policy which is against the interest of Australians. The government is willing to protect the financial interests of private media companies, like Google and Facebook, in respect of foreign owned goods by introducing a media code but the government will not stand up for Australians so we get fair payment for oil and gas from Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP or ConocoPhillips. Why?

In 2019-20, these foreign owned oil and gas multinationals controlled most of the offshore oil and gas leases. They exported $48 billion worth of liquefied natural gas to Japan, China, South Korea and other Asian countries. As owners of the gas, we received a payment of about $200 million in 2019-20—that is, one twenty-fifth of one per cent of the $48 billion in sales. The other 99.996 per cent of the $48 billion went to the companies to cover costs and generate profits. None of that 99.996 per cent was paid as income tax, because these transnational companies have $350 billion of tax credits courtesy of the PRRT law that was introduced by Labor in 1987. One twenty-fifth of one per cent in every dollar of gas export sales represents the lowest gas payment in the world to owners. Why doesn't the government want to get a better deal for Australia? Australia is the only large producer of gas in the world that has a domestic price for gas that is higher than the export parity price. This is the finding of the ACCC.

What is the government doing? It is encouraging expensive-to-extract onshore gas as if it were an alternative to cheap-to-extract offshore gas and oil. How can we have globally competitive electricity and manufacturing in Australia when our competitors have cheaper gas than we do? The government's gas-led strategy will be fiction until the government reforms the gas laws. The government has had years to put Australia in a competitive position but has so far refused to do so. The next election is the government's to lose, but that will not stop me advocating for the best interests of Australians everywhere.

The best interests of Australia will be served by the government acting to introduce a domestic gas reserve policy for Australia's offshore waters so that 15 per cent of all gas comes into Australia; changing the PRRT laws so we get fair payment for our oil and gas; removing multinational oil and gas companies from the company tax system and putting them in a transaction based tax system; and investing in re-gassing terminals in the eastern states to bring offshore cheap gas from the west or building a gas pipeline from west to east.

One Nation is the party of energy security in this country. I have raised the matter of the gas we're losing overseas many times on the floor of this parliament. The government—not only this government but the previous government as well as Labor—have only spoken about sovereignty. They've only worried about sovereignty. As I pointed out, the leases off the west coast of Australia are for 30 years. I've taken the idea of 'use it or lose it' to the government, which they have never done. They let these multinationals sit on these leases and do nothing about them. They don't have to work them; they are waiting until they use up all the supplies around the world. We silly buggers here are letting them have their leases until they run out of gas in other parts of the world, and then they will tap into ours.

We do not get it. Western Australia are the only ones who do. If it comes into their state they will actually get 15 per cent for domestic gas supply. But companies are building large pipelines of over 900 kilometres to be put into the Northern Territory so they don't have to give 15 per cent of domestic gas supply to Australia. Yet we are charging Australians more for the gas in this country than what companies are being charged to export it out of here.

If you think it is good enough to receive $200 million in tax on $48 billion worth of gas exports in this country, you shouldn't be in government. You shouldn't be working for the people of this nation, because you've done rotten deals over the years. You've sold out the Australian people. Look at what Norway have done. They've made a lot of money out of their resources, and the people in that country are quite rich. We're living on the bones of our backside here because governments are giving away our gas to other countries to use. That's why we've lost manufacturing and other industries in this country, because of the cost of energy. You're quite prepared to make it a cost, and you sustain these with renewable energies, but you don't allow Australians to use our own gas at a cheap price so we can actually drive industry and manufacturing. That's why a lot of them have closed. We're losing jobs in Australia because you allowed cheap imports to come into Australia and destroy our industries and manufacturing. They can't afford the costs of running their businesses and they can't afford the cost of energy, and they won't until you get your act together and rein this in.

Three hundred and fifty billion dollars in tax credits—$350 billion! That is why Chevron will never pay tax in this country until you look at it on a turnover basis. I spoke to former Minister for Resources and Northern Australia Canavan about it. He allowed a platform to go in off Western Australia. All they had to do was hook it to the bottom and that was that; they could take whatever they wanted. There's no accountability whatsoever.

I am absolutely disgusted with this government, so I'd like to have this report. I want to know what's happened with those 12 recommendations from the Callaghan report of four years ago, and the people of Australia have a right to know.