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

My question is to the Minister representing the Prime Minister, Minister Wong. Minister, Australians are watching energy prices rise as the fallout of Donald Trump and Israel's war on Iran ripples through global gas markets. At the same time, multinational gas exporters are profiting from our resources that they pay little tax on. The Senate inquiry into the taxation of Australia's gas resources, which included Labor members, found that the case for a gas export tax should be revisited once the conflict in Iran is resolved. Just last week, your own press release welcomed this supposed peace deal, saying:

We are pleased the agreement between the US and Iran includes steps towards reopening the Strait of Hormuz …

Minister, will your Labor government now finally have the courage to take on the gas corporations and implement a minimum 25 per cent tax on gas exports?

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

Thank you to the senator for her question. What I would say to her is, first, I think we all want the agreement for the ending of the conflict in the Middle East to hold, but I think we are also aware that this is a challenging process. Even if the agreement continues to hold, it will take some time for global supply and global markets to return to where they were and, in fact, they may not return to precisely the same shape and dimensions that they were prior to the conflict. I understand what you're advocating, but the premise of your question is that we're back to normal now. We aren't. It has been the largest shock to energy markets ever, even more than the 1970s, so it will take some time to recover from that.

In relation to the substantive issue, which is your proposition, we do agree that gas companies should pay their fair share of tax, and we also believe that Australians should have a fair share of the benefit of gas. I think you might have asked me questions before where I've explained why we believe the priority at the moment is the gas reservation scheme, which has benefits for our economy, for workers and businesses and for households. It is the priority at the moment, and that is what the government is focused on delivering.

Sue Lines (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hodgins-May, first supplementary?

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

Minister, you've had millions—literally millions—of Australians calling for a gas export tax, yet, from what I can gather, you only seem to be taking advice from a handful of gas executives and Donald Trump. Why won't you ensure that there is a fair public return on Australia's publicly owned natural resources? Your reservation policy will not raise a cent of revenue. Please answer that question for me, for my colleagues and for the millions of Australians demanding more.

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

Senator, I do find this tendency, where we disagree with you, for the Greens political party to suggest that it's on some other grounds than a genuine assessment of what we believe is best for the Australian people. Our judgement is based on what is best for the Australian people, what is best for our economy, what is best for households and what is best for businesses. I think casting aspersions on intention and motivation really is not a reasonable thing to do. We just don't agree with you.

Well, you can laugh, Senator Shoebridge. You sneer regularly, but it is really unfair to suggest anything other than that we have a different view. We have a different assessment about what is good for workers, we have a different assessment about what is good for businesses and we have a different assessment about what is good for the economy. As Senator Ayres has gone through in detail many times, we believe the priority at the moment should be a domestic gas reservation scheme. (Time expired)

Sue Lines (President) | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Hodgins-May, second supplementary?

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

Minister, isn't it the truth that Labor simply adopts whatever arguments the gas industry puts forward at the time—shortages when a new gas project needs approval and oversupply when its weak reservation policy needs defending—all to avoid taxing gas exports and making multinational corporations pay what they owe?

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

The domestic gas reservation scheme is a very substantial reform. I have to be honest: it has not been universally supported by the gas sector. You've seen that various conservative parties—I think including One Nation, but I could be wrong, but certainly parts of the coalition—have not been supportive of it. It is a very substantial change to Australia's economic position—as I said, not universally supported by every company in the gas sector. So, again, the premise of your question is wrong. We make judgements about what we believe is the best thing for Australian workers, for Australian businesses and for Australian households, and our judgement is that those interests are best served by the creation of a domestic reservation system for Australian gas so that we can get a fair share of that gas here in Australia.