Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Waters for her question. I did observe the public statements from the Greens, and they have a consistent position on this. Obviously, the government's focus on tax is rolling out tax cuts for every taxpayer, which I note that those opposite opposed. We're obviously closely monitoring events in the Middle East, as I went to in my first answer.

The principle of Australians deserving a fair return from natural resources they own is a sound one, and it is one that Labor in government has held to. In our first term, we did make changes to the petroleum resources rent tax so that offshore gas companies paid more tax sooner, increasing the number of entities paying tax, and also to encourage investment in our resource sector through the production tax credit for critical minerals.

I would note that we are in a time of global instability, and, as the first few questions of question time elicited, leaving aside any of the political discussions, this is a major challenge for the country. The government's immediate priority is fuel security, and we are focused on securing supply.