Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

The ongoing debate about a tax on gas exports represents what could have been—a missed opportunity for Australians to have gained incredible revenue since the oil spike in 2022. In just those three years, the Australia Institute has modelled that we've foregone about $63 billion in revenue. That could have been used to build hospitals, to fund education and to fund income tax cuts. The revenue could have been used to slash the fuel excise tax to make fuel cheaper for ordinary Australians at the fuel pump.

Tasmania and Victoria providing free public transport is also great news. It's an immediate cost-of-living relief measure for people to save money in the cities and for those well connected to transport. We should make public transport free or at least supercheap. The cost isn't actually that high when you consider the significant budget relief it gives commuters every single day. But public transport is a responsibility for state governments, not the federal government. That's in the Constitution.

What the federal government can do is fix GST and make sure the GST money is actually split up between the states fairly. The GST deal is currently under review, and we're at risk of WA once again taking everyone for a ride and getting an unfair share of money. Doing GST fairly gives the state governments the revenue they need to make decisions, like if they can make public transport free. If we had a tax on gas exports, we could give Rockliff more money to pay for free public transport for those that have access to it. At the broader level, Albo could use the gas tax money to cut fuel prices. That would help people that don't have access to public transport and only use their car. That way, everyone could win.