Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Australia's gas industry is export dominant, highly lucrative and globally significant. Around 80 per cent of our gas is exported; 20 percent is used domestically. We are always in the top three as a global gas producer, usually after the US and Qatar. It is a highly lucrative industry. In 2023-24 gas exports raised around $70 billion in revenue. They paid around $1.5 billion in PRRT. They paid around $10 billion in company tax. Royalties to the states were in the order of around $2 billion. We introduced some reforms to PRRT to claw back more tax, and the number of companies that will be paying PRRT will increase, from 11 to 16, as a result of those reforms in our first term of government.

But 2023-24 is very different to 2026. What has happened in the aftermath of the Middle East conflict is that gas prices have spiked. The European benchmark for gas jumped to its highest level in more than three years only a few days ago. On 19 March, about a week ago, the Financial Review reported that Woodside and Santos had recently sold their gas cargoes at more than double the Asian benchmark rate. In other words, the gas companies are raking it in as a result of this conflict.

So far, Australian domestic gas prices have been relatively stable. That's thanks to ample supply in the system due to all the reforms we brought in during our first term, which were actually opposed by those opposite. There are genuine and legitimate concerns, particularly from industry, which relies on gas, that these prices may not remain low and stable for long. In fact, energy forecasters are predicting that, by winter of this year, gas prices domestically will jump. I'm a senator for Victoria. Victorians, particularly Victorian households, rely on gas for cooking and heating. In fact, around 90 per cent of Victorian households use gas. So, coming into winter, I will be very concerned if gas companies seek to profit from this conflict and hike domestic prices. I'll be watching closely. I would hazard a guess that they haven't done it already, because they know we are all watching them closely as well.

This is why we will be introducing a domestic gas reservation policy. This will start in 2027. It will mean that around 15 to 25 per cent of gas produced here in Australia will be retained here in Australia in order to put downward pressure on prices, in order to bake in some energy resilience in an increasingly volatile world and in order to protect our domestic industries. Indeed, the Australian Workers' Union, representing manufacturing workers, has said that this was an historic victory. I want to reassure our trading partners that it will not be applied retrospectively.

However, I do agree with the Greens political party that we need to go further. I think that Australian gas producers have been operating in fairly generous circumstances for some time. Yes, they create jobs. Yes, they create revenue. Yes, they create value. There's no disputing that. But it's an extractive industry and one that, in the current circumstances, is going to become even more lucrative as time goes on. Why? It's because of the strike to the Qatar LNG facility, which is likely to lead to years of elevated prices because it will take years for that facility to come online again.

It's no secret that Treasury are looking at an additional tax or levy. Sure enough, as night follows day, the usual suspects—the gas industry and their cheer squad—are saying that this will freeze investment and disincentivise investment. I don't believe them, because circumstances have changed. Qatar is now seen as a geopolitical risk. How can it not be? Australia, on the other hand, is a safe haven thanks to our democratic nation and skill capability. We are on the doorstep of— (Time expired)