David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Aussies are angry about not getting a fair return on the export of our gas. I have an inquiry before this Senate to look into this—to look at why this is the case and what can be done. We have a proposal from the ACTU for a 25 per cent tax on gas exports. This has broad support in the community. I've received thousands of emails from people saying that this is something the Senate should be doing, and I know that many of my colleagues in here have also received those emails. So I ask my Senate colleagues: Who is that we're in here to represent? Is it everyday Australians, the people who voted to send someone to Canberra to look out for them and their families? Or is it the gas companies who have made huge, huge amounts of money off our gas?

We have a finite resource; we are one of the largest gas exporters in the world, yet we're willing to give away half of that gas for free. It doesn't cut it, and Australians are getting angrier and angrier about the political failure on this issue. We saw some polling come out of Farrer just yesterday, and three-quarters of people polled agreed or agreed strongly that gas corporations should pay a 25 per cent tax on gas exports, and only 10 per cent believed that we shouldn't. So why is the Senate siding with the gas companies rather than with Australians who want to see us get a fair return on our resources? Those are our resources. Once they're gone, they're gone, and we're likely to see gas companies make tens of billions of dollars extra off the war in Iran.