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

I move:

Pursuant to standing order 75, I give notice that today the Australian Greens propose to move "That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Albanese Government to provide urgent Commonwealth funding for the states and territories to provide free and more frequent public transport, paid for by a tax on gas exports."

Yesterday Victoria and Tasmania announced plans to make public transport free, like the Greens have been campaigning for for weeks. It turns out everything is impossible until it's not. The Prime Minister could have used National Cabinet this morning to make it happen elsewhere. Free public transport in a fuel crisis just makes sense. It's immediate cost-of-living relief for people in our cities, it takes the pressure off fuel supplies so that farmers can fill up and regional servos aren't running dry. Since the federal government continues to back Trump and Netanyahu's illegal war, they should pick up the tab and make public transport free.

That's just one piece of the puzzle. We also need to reduce our reliance on imported oil, and that means investing in our own renewable independence in the long term. We know that, in the mean time, making public transport cheaper makes more people use it. After years of campaigning in my home state of Queensland, the government picked up a Greens policy and introduced a 50c temporary fare in September of 2024. The uptake was so significant, they made it permanent. And it's not just Brisbane. There's increased public transport usage in Gympie, on the Sunny Coast and right across regional centres. Dropping public transport to 50c in Queensland made more people use it, and it provided immediate cost-of-living relief.

While people are paying the price of this illegal war, fossil fuel companies and weapons corporations are making eye-watering wartime profits. A 25 per cent tax on gas exports would generate around $17 billion annually, and that $17 billion of revenue could be used to fund public transport or any other cost-of-living relief to help people. If Labor had the guts to stare down the greedy gas companies, we'd have more than enough to help people through the fuel crisis. (Time expired)