Larissa Waters (Queensland, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to 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)

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is an enormous responsibility to come to this parliament, the federal parliament of Australia, and it behoves us to act in a way that is at all times responsible, particularly economically. It is the decisions we make today that chart the course of Australia for our children and grandchildren.

We've seen, under Labor, some of the most reckless decision-making over the last four years—things that have turned the ship of Australia away from the prosperity we've enjoyed in past generations, that have turned it away from our children believing they would have the same or a better quality of life than we have had. This is the first time in generations that young people feel they will be worse off than previous generations. The last four years under the Labor government have seen those opportunities squandered. We've seen the war on fossil fuels. We've seen them turn their back on the energy sources that would mean Australians would continue to be the First World country we've enjoyed being.

I've been disappointed to see the Greens embrace this same kind of economic nihilism, and this urgency motion to expand public transport around Australia, whilst well meaning, is incredibly poorly thought through. Senator Waters proposed the expansion of public transport across the country but then went on to use examples in Queensland, where there is no public transport in the vast amount of the state. Sure, there's a bit of public transport in Gympie and on the Sunshine Coast, and Brisbane and the Gold Coast. But the rest of the state does not enjoy public transport. Once again, we're cementing the disadvantage. You come to Townsville, Senator Waters, and find out just how little public transport there is.

Anyway, it's my turn now, Senator Waters. I didn't interrupt your input.

Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senators, I think it's fair to say that everyone listened to Senator Waters in her contribution. I remind senators that interjections are disorderly. Senator McDonald, you have the call.

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you. So, we further cement this disadvantage between our regions and rural parts of the state and the cities, where we continue to subsidise those public transport arrangements. But I am pleased that the Crisafulli government has embedded 50c fares in Queensland for those people who are fortunate enough to be able to enjoy it.

I want to continue, though. The Greens, with this urgency motion, have continued to somehow think that they can hypothecate gas taxes with public transport. Given that the government doesn't hypothecate fuel excises to road maintenance—to a whole lot of things that you would normally think would be linked—I think it would be reasonable to think this is a complete fantasy. The Greens are continuing to ignore the fact that gas is so important to our energy security, particularly at a time when we rely on the countries that we export to for liquid fuels. The Greens are proposing that we tell those countries that we're going to increase the cost to them of gas—something that's critical for their energy needs—at the same time as we are begging them for fuel; the Prime Minister is out there negotiating with those countries to maintain liquid fuel supplies to Australians.

We've heard today just how desperate Australians are to receive fuel. It is more than $4 a litre for diesel in parts of Queensland now, if you can get it. So this idea that we are going to damage those relationships by increasing gas taxes—future investment will be frozen and damaged. It is extraordinary. It is a dismal state that our economy exists in now under Labor. Inflation is high. Interest rates are high. Real wages are lower. We have a high cost of living because of this government's out-of-control spending. All of this happened prior to the conflict in the Middle East. This is not new. So we want to see reduced red tape and streamlined approval processes so that we can get more investment into Australia and more prosperity, not less.

Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government is under no illusion that the spike in fuel prices as a result of the war in the Middle East is causing financial stress and placing serious pressure on Australian households and businesses. But there is not one single solution, and responding effectively requires actions and coordination at every level of government. Families are feeling it at the bowser, and businesses—particularly transport, agriculture and those in regional communities—are feeling it. That is, of course, the driver of this urgency motion.

This is a global crisis driven by instability well beyond Australia's control. Nonetheless, this global crisis requires a national response, and that is exactly what this government is delivering. This morning, the Prime Minister convened National Cabinet to ensure national coordination and a unified approach that ensures we are prepared for any circumstance. In this period of instability, the federal government's immediate priority is fuel security. We are securing the supply, keeping distribution moving and ensuring essential services can continue.

I think it is also important to be clear about roles and responsibilities. Public transport is a responsibility of state and federal governments. They set services and fares. Where states have the capacity to act, we are already seeing them step up. It's pleasing to see, in my own state of Victoria, that the Allan Labor government has announced that all metropolitan and V-line public transport will be free from this Tuesday, tomorrow, until 30 April. I congratulate the state Labor government for that. And Tasmania has announced that public transport, including buses and ferries, will be free statewide starting today and going through to 1 July 2026. These are sensible temporary measures that can help take the pressure off families now, and we also welcome the other states that are looking at what they can do in the circumstances that they see themselves in.

However, we know that this won't solve every problem, because we know public transport is not the answer for everyone, particularly in regional areas and for workers in the cities and suburbs who need to drive—blue-collar workers, in-home aged-care workers, even hairdressers. But free public transport and reduced public transport costs will make a difference in the immediate term for those who rely on public transport and those who can take the train or the bus instead of using their cars. When those of us who are able in the cities and suburbs to reduce our fuel consumption do so, we are freeing up supply for those in regional and remote communities and for workers who cannot use public transport in their daily jobs. This is the Australian way—all of us doing our bit in the way that we can to support our communities as a whole.

Whilst this motion sparks an interesting debate, let's look at the extensive action taken by this government to address the immediate challenges facing us right now as a nation. As the Treasurer said this morning, while we cannot choose what is happening in the Middle East, we can choose how we respond as a federal government here at home. That is why the government announced today that we are halving the fuel excise for three months, starting on Wednesday. This will reduce petrol and diesel prices by 26.3c per litre, providing immediate relief to households and businesses. We are also reducing the heavy-vehicle user charge to zero for the same three-month period to ease pressure on freight, food supply chains and essential transport. And of course these announcements are in addition to the measures that we have already announced.

The government has already released 20 per cent of the minimum stockholding obligation for petrol and diesel, with a focus on getting fuel to regional communities where it is needed. And we have appointed a fuel supply taskforce coordinator to work directly with industry to help keep fuel flowing where it is needed. We have amended fuel standards to bring more supply onto the market and we have passed legislation to strengthen the ACCC's powers, doubling penalties for companies that unfairly jack up fuel prices. This is in addition to the other things that have already been spoken about many times in this chamber today. All of this is about taking the sting out of a very difficult period. So while free public transport can play a role where states choose to implement it, the national task before us is bigger than any single measure. Our job is to ensure fuel security, protect essential services, support households and businesses and respond to this global crisis with a coordinated national approach—and that is exactly what this government is doing.

Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Albanese Labor government understands that Australians need reliable and accessible public transport. We know that families are feeling the pinch at the petrol pump and the supermarket checkout. We know that regional communities are feeling this pinch the hardest right now. While the Greens are chasing likes, we are building public transport and transport links that get people to work and to school every day, every night, across the country. While they're picking fights, we are building.

Let's look at the facts here. The Albanese government is currently delivering a record investment of over $120 billion in the roads and rail that Australia needs over the next 10 years. We are putting real money on the table to ensure that these projects are actually getting built. Our commitments across the country include $5.6 billion for the METRONET in Perth, $5.19 billion for the Sydney Metro to Western Sydney Airport, $2.2 billion for the Suburban Rail Loop in my home state of Victoria—with more to come—and $1 billion to extend the rail network in Sydney's south-west. We are also looking to the future of transport, with $659.6 million for the next stage of high-speed rail and $100 million through the Active Transport Fund to support walking and cycling.

While the state and territory governments are responsible for operating these networks and setting fares, it is the Commonwealth that is doing the heavy lifting on infrastructure that makes those services possible. This motion suggests we pay for their plans with a tax on gas exports. The reality is that this government has already taken decisive action to ensure that gas companies pay their fair share.

In the first term, we made the tough changes to the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax that the previous government ignored. Because of our reforms, offshore gas companies are paying more tax and they are paying it sooner. The latest budget update forecasts we will collect $5.4 billion in PRRT over the four years to 2028-29. In 2023-24 alone, oil and gas companies paid almost $12 billion in PRRT and company tax. The company tax from this sector alone has jumped by an average of $1.1 billion to over $10.4 billion under Labor. We've also legislated new integrity rules to stop multinationals from using excessive debt deductions to wipe out their tax bills in Australia.

Holding these companies to account ensures that they pay their fair share to support the essential services that Australians rely on. This revenue is exactly what allows us to deliver meaningful cost-of-living relief and put more money back in the pockets of every taxpayer.

We also know that fuel prices are a massive burden right now. The Albanese government is acting. We've released 20 per cent of the minimum stockholding obligation for petrol and diesel, doubled penalties for companies found guilty of unfairly raising fuel prices and amended fuel standards to allow more supply onto the market. We are working with international partners like Singapore and Korea to shore up our supply chains.

We don't wait for crises—like the one we currently have as a result of the war in the Middle East—to act. We have consistently invested in infrastructure that keeps Australia and Australians moving. The Greens want to talk about urgency, but their actions tell a very different story. They spend more time fighting than they do working in the national interest. They would rather turn their backs on constructive policy to play political games with the coalition, working against the best interests of the Australian people.

The government has a plan. We are delivering record infrastructure, we are making multinationals pay their fair share and we are easing the cost of living for every Australian. That is the choice: Labor's plan to build Australia's future or the Greens' plan to keep picking the same old fights.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today is a bad day for those greedy gas corporations but a great day for those people who have been demanding that they finally pay what they owe. The Greens have today secured an inquiry into the taxation of Australia's gas.

I'll chair it. Our inquiry will put the rich, tax-dodging gas industry under the microscope. It will dismantle their excuses for paying no tax, and it will build momentum for fairer tax in the upcoming budget.

This is crunch time. Australians are being smashed by rising costs while the gas industry is poised to cash in on global conflict and walk away with billions. And every day that this government delays action, it costs Australians nearly $50 million in lost revenue. Almost $250 million a week is being handed to gas corporations instead of being used to support people through a fair tax on our gas exports. People are struggling to fill their cars and to pay their bills, and they are rightly asking why—why multinational gas companies are profiting from resources that belong to us all. For far too long, gas corporations have extracted our resources, shipped them offshore, made a motza and paid next to nothing in return—next to nothing! And, when disaster strikes, when conflict is egged on by the war parties, it is everyday Australians who are left to pick up the bill.

We have, just this weekend, seen the devastation of Cyclone Narelle in Exmouth, with infrastructure decimated, communities isolated and marine life devastated, and the costs are absolutely enormous. This is exactly why polluters like Woodside Energy and Chevron should be paying for the climate damage that they contribute to. A minimum 25 per cent tax on gas exports could raise at least $17 billion per year. That is revenue that we could be using right now to support people and to invest in our futures. It could slash household energy bills and provide direct cost-of-living relief. It could fund free public transport, just like in my home state of Victoria. It could accelerate electrification so we can finally break our dependence on expensive, polluting gas.

When this committee reports, Labor will have a choice. Will they keep allowing the gas giants to call the shots, or will they stand up to the vested interests and make them pay what Australians are owed? This inquiry will lay out evidence, dismantle the spin and lies and provide a solution. There has never been stronger public support for taxing gas exports. The case is clear, and the time is now.

David Pocock (ACT, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of this motion. Clearly, it is time for Australians to get a fair return on our gas exports. We're seeing the gas industry's propaganda machine go into overdrive. They know that they are losing this battle. They know that Australians have had enough. Australians are saying: 'You've had it very good for a long time. Now is the time we're going to get our fair share.' And that is through a 25 per cent tax on gas exports.

Beware of what you watch on social media, where the gas industry is pushing ads. At Canberra Airport, they seem to have every second billboard, telling you all sorts of things about how much tax they pay. Let's go straight to the horse's mouth. This is not the crossbench saying these things; Treasury itself has told us that the PRRT gives us $1.5 billion a year, and we know that a big chunk of that is actually from oil, not gas. Gas is probably a tiny bit of it, so small that Treasury couldn't even tell us what the split is. The beer excise gives us $2.7 billion a year. This is an industry that the ATO says are systemic nonpayers of tax, so they really have no credibility when it comes to this space. They are trying to tell us that they are such great corporate citizens and that they pay so much tax. Australians are seeing straight through that. They're seeing the great gas scam for what it is.

This is not demonising an industry. This is saying, 'You pay us what you owe us, and you owe us for the Australian gas that you export from this country.' So now is the time for a 25 per cent tax on gas exports to give Australians their fair share.

Tammy Tyrrell (Tasmania, Independent) Share this | Link to 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.

Mehreen Faruqi (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Prime Minister Albanese was quick to jump and support Trump and Netanyahu's war on Iran but is slow to tackle the consequences of this war. People here are now paying the price of Trump's imperialism and our prime minister being a 'yes' man to war. In times of crisis, big and bold decisions must be made with urgency and decisiveness. But sadly Labor's commanding majority at the last election has meant nothing for fixing the rotten system that is driving inequality, poverty, war, genocide and the climate crisis. We are seeing a rot as gas and oil companies make a killing on the back of ordinary people.

The extractive fossil fuel economy is completely failing us. The volatility and the obscene corporate profits should be a clear indication of the scale of change needed to decarbonise and move to renewable energy, because no-one can block sun, wind and the sea. I fear that Labor is not up to the task. They have refused to make even public transport free, which would give households breathing room and eased pressure on the strained fuel supplies. Victoria and Tasmania have heeded the Greens's calls and done it. Premier Chris Minns's rejecting calls to make public transport free in New South Wales shows how out of touch he is with the struggles of our people in New South Wales. The New South Wales and Queensland premiers are too preoccupied with passing laws to criminalise the truth about Israel, the very country responsible for the predicament that we are in right now. If Labor can't find the courage to deliver the change that we need right now, then you deserve to be cast into the dustbin of history.

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm disappointed that the South Australian government hasn't joined the Victorian and Tasmanian governments today by giving our community back in South Australia access to free public transport. At a time when people are struggling because of Trump's bloody and illegal war—backed by One Nation, backed by the Liberal Party and of course facilitated by the Albanese government—it is simply unfair that South Australians are paying the price. It is unfair that South Australians are having to pay through the nose because Donald Trump can't keep his emotions in check. It's unfair that South Australians have to pay because of this illegal and bloody war.

I'm disappointed that the South Australian government hasn't seen fit to help our local community back in Adelaide. Ensuring that people can get to work, get to school and get around while the cost of petrol is so expensive—and relieving stress and demand on fuel for the regions—would make a lot of sense, as would catching the bus, the tram or the train for free. I urge the Malinauskas government to do the right thing here: give people free access to public transport and do it today.

To the Albanese government, I say: it's not good enough, after backing this illegal war, to wring your hands and not do anything to support people going forward. Australians need help, South Australians need help, and they should be given help with free public transport.

David Shoebridge (NSW, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Right now, fossil fuel corporations are literally raking in the profits, profiting from this bloody war. They're taking resources that belong to all Australians and then shipping it offshore for record profits, and we should have been taxing that yesterday. Free public transport would be an immediate cost-of-living relief measure that people need right now. It would allow people in cities and suburbs to see their loved ones, get to work and do the essential travel without the cost they face every time they go to the petrol bowser, and it would also free up fuel so that people in regional Australia—farmers—have enough supply to do what they need to do, to go to the doctor and to put food on the table. With the money we get from taxing fossil fuel corporations, we could be doing a whole lot more to help people—public transport, free; public education, amazing; and public health as amazing as it should be in this country.

I've got to tell you this: Australians want nothing to do with Trump's and Netanyahu's illegal war. We're being fleeced by corporations profiting from death and destruction, and the war parties here back in those corporations, not you. When push comes to shove, the war parties always pick the interests of Donald Trump and big corporations over the interests of people. The Greens are the only party in this place committed to peace. Australians don't get richer off war; they get poorer. They don't see the deaths of people in the Middle East as a business opportunity; they see it as a tragedy. Here, we're asking what it will take for the war parties, who are paid for by Gina Rinehart and the fossil fuel corporations, to tax big gas so that ordinary people have the life they need.

Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the motion moved by Senator McKim be agreed to.