Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Here we have the three war parties falling over themselves to back in and support this illegal war, and now they've got the audacity to complain about the obvious impacts of that war. Pick a side; you can't have it both ways. We've heard today that our nation has let US planes refuel here. So much for 'no resourcing or any support for this war'—they are fuelling here on our shores. We're letting US bases be used on our shores, and the Foreign minister wouldn't answer any questions about whether any of our personnel were on the military vessels that then bombed other vessels in the Indian Ocean. It is a black box here, with the three war parties falling over themselves to back in this illegal conflict, and now they are belatedly boosting for the fossil fuel corporations who will profiteer off ordinary people's pain as this conflict progresses.

Senator Canavan belled the cat there, because this motion is a stalking horse for the conservatives to say they want more coal, oil and gas ripped out of the ground. They've never met the climate crisis, and they are not about to start listening to science now. The talk of removing the fracking bans on good-quality farmland was very telling from a party that used to represent farmers and now just takes donations from Santos.

Rather than falling over themselves to open up more fossil fuels in a climate crisis to make more money for these greedy companies that don't pay their fair share of tax, they should instead stop giving these massive polluting companies the freebies that they get every year from the taxpayer—the $8-odd billion in fuel tax credits. Apparently, we're in a government spending crisis. There's a tip for you—get rid of those fuel tax credits for those big polluting companies that already don't pay their fair share of tax, that get much of this gas royalty-free, that have their hands out for further subsidies and are now profiteering from an illegal war. We should be imposing a 25 per cent gas tax on them, to boot, and turning off the tap of that public money. You want to talk about fuel security? Why don't we electrify our transport as much as possible? That is the solution for fuel security. It will help us address the climate crisis and it will help us make sure our needs are met.

The needs that these folk want to meet are the needs of the rich gas companies that don't pay tax, that have their hands out for the taxpayer and that are now profiteering off an illegal war. Fossil fuel shares have surged since this war began five days ago. The Woodside share price is up by almost 10 per cent. You've got Santos' share price—you might have heard me mention it's a common donor to the National Party. Santos' share price is up by 7.8 per cent. That's an almost $6 billion increase in market capital for Woodside. They are making bank off an illegal war, and this is on top of the fact that they get public money in a cost-of-living crisis. When ordinary people are finding it hard to pay their way, to fill up the groceries, to pay the rent and to fill up the car, the wealthy and tax-dodging gas corporations who are polluting like there's no tomorrow are getting freebies out of the taxpayer, and gas corporations will continue to profiteer off this war, just like they did off the back of Russia's illegal invasion of Ukraine.

Today, we saw QatarEnergy declare a force majeure in order to back out of gas supply contracts. We say that gas corporations should not be rewarded for this greed and that we've got to have some action in the next budget to turn off the tap of taxpayer support to polluting companies. End those fuel tax credits and those PRRT loopholes which make a mockery of our resources, giving them away for free to these polluting profiteering companies. Civilians are being killed, and people are suffering; meanwhile, greedy gas corporations are using Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war to simply line their pockets. I've already mentioned that Woodside has made almost $6 billion since the first bomb dropped. While the rest of us are mourning the death of schoolchildren, those big fossil fuel companies are laughing all the way to the bank. And this mob has the audacity to both back the war and yet, at the same time, want to boost for further profits for the same polluting companies that already get billions of dollars in hand-outs, don't pay their fair share of tax and are making bank off an illegal war. For shame!