Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The need for the Australian Government to place a moratorium on meetings with representatives of the gas industry and their lobbyists for the duration of the public debate on the taxation of gas exports, revoke sponsored parliamentary passes held by such representatives, and immediately disclose all meetings held between Government Ministers and representatives of the gas industry or their lobbyists over the previous 12 months.

The corporate parties have given the gas lobby free run in this building for far too long, and the Greens are saying time is up. Australians have a simple message for the Albanese government: stop the great Australian gas rip-off and make corporations pay what they owe. During our Greens led gas tax inquiry, we heard it over and over again from Shell, INPEX, AEP, Woodside—different logos, same script: 'The PRRT is working. Now isn't the time for more taxes. Don't change the system.' Of course it's working for them. It is delivering exactly what it was designed to deliver: billions in profits for multinational gas corporations and next to nothing for the Australian people whose resources they are selling. Now, we have the receipts.

New analysis from InfluenceMap confirmed what we all suspected—every gas company and industry association that appeared before the inquiry opposed reform using the same talking points, the same scare campaigns and the same script: 'We can't tax gas properly because of energy security. We can't tax gas properly because of our trading partners. We can't tax gas properly because the sky might fall in.' The gas lobby came to parliament prepared with a script, and the government and Albanese repeated it word for word. Every time Australians demand reform, the gas lobby leans in and Labor rolls over.

What's perhaps most extraordinary is the access that these companies enjoy. While ordinary Australians struggle to get a meeting with their local rep, gas executives walk the halls of parliament like they own the place. Believe me, they do think they own this place. Freedom-of-information documents obtained by the Australian Conservation Foundation revealed almost 200 text messages between Woodside and senior government officials while conditions on the North West Shelf Project extension were being negotiated. One Woodside representative asked, 'Any chance we can see the final conditions as put to the minister?' Imagine the entitlement. It's not 'do the conditions protect the environment?', not 'do they protect cultural heritage?', just 'do they work for Woodside?' and 'do they protect our profit margins?'. Then, after months of negotiations, came the message from the government—'Thanks. We got there.' Those three words that tell Australians everything they need to know.

At budget estimates, I repeatedly asked about meetings between ministers and gas industry representatives during the gas tax debate. Nobody could tell me. Nobody could disclose to me whom met whom. Nobody could even tell Australians whether gas companies attended Labor's $5,500 a head budget night fundraiser.

All of this matters because another major decision is looming. Right now, Woodside lobbyists are roaming the halls of parliament trying to win support for the Browse Gas Project, a project we do not need for domestic supply, a project that only stacks up if those gas corporations keep getting Australia's gas for cheap. The Prime Minister dismisses the calls for a gas tax as a slogan. It is not a slogan, mate. It is a groundswell. Australians can see the billions of dollars of profit flowing offshore. They can see the corporations get rich, and they can see how little comes back when they're struggling with the cost of living.

That's why we need to ban gas lobbyists from this place. If you want to break the cosy relationship between Labor and the gas industry, we need to lock these bastards out. We need to ban the secret meetings. We need to revoke their sponsored parliamentary passes.