Mr Speaker, there was a gas tax-shaped hole in our budget.  

A $17 billion-per-year-sized hole. 

We could all see it. We were all disappointed by it.  

Because in the lead-up to this year’s budget, 

• Australians of all political persuasions 

• people across my electorate and across the entire country  

• were hoping this would finally be the budget that secured a fair return on our natural resources.  

These resources are owned by the public, and yet they are given away, royalty-free and on minimal tax, to multinational corporations that rake in billions of dollars every year.  

Unfortunately, this Budget does nothing to change that.  

Since 2022, the absence of a 25% tax on gas exports has cost us over $70 billion.   

This is a missed opportunity of astounding proportions.  

$17 billion per year is around 50 million dollars a day. More than two million an hour. 577 every second.  

All that revenue is flowing to corporate coffers instead of the public purse.  

These figures sound large, but what do they mean in practice? What could we do with an extra 17 billion dollars every year?  

The Budget papers make it easy to put these numbers into perspective.  

$17 billion is around one-and-a-half billion more than the cost of the entire childcare subsidy.  

It’s four-and-a-half billion more than total federal funding for public schools. It’s more money than the Commonwealth provides to the army, the navy or the air force. 

With an extra 17 billion dollars, we could make meaningful improvements to any of these public services 

• or we could choose to do something else 

• to invest in some of the things we all want but are so often told we just cannot afford.  

• To fund some of those nice things that other countries have. Like free dental care. Or free university. Or a film and television industry that is properly supported by its government. 

The list of possibilities is considerable.  

And although $17 billion wouldn’t fund everything on that list, it would allow us to fund pretty much anything — and to improve countless lives across the country in the process.  

But that remains out of reach so long as we continue to let gas corporations off the hook.  

The Australian Council of Trade Unions, alongside organisations like The Australia Institute and advocates like Konrad from Punter’s Politics, have worked hard over many years to bring this issue to the fore. 

They have helped build this into a movement that now extends right across the country.  

Today, everyone knows the Government gets more money from students repaying their HECS debt than from the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax. Everyone knows the Government pulls in more cash from taxing beer than from the PRRT.  

Everyone knows the system is broken and isn’t delivering for anyone — anyone except the gas lobby. 

The Government knows this as well; they’re just choosing to ignore it. And the longer they wait, the clearer the polls become.  

Now, a majority of voters across the spectrum — Labor, Liberal, Greens, One Nation, Independent — all support a 25% tax on gas exports.i  

There is a clear and growing consensus that Australians should receive a fairer return on publicly owned resources. 

And yet the Government continues to dig in its heels.  

It claims the industry already pays its fair share — but uses statistics derived by the gas lobby to support these claims.  

It says our gas is keeping the lights on in Tokyo — but neglects to mention that Japan re-sells vast quantities of gas that it imports from Australia. 

Japan even makes more money by taxing the gas that they import from us, than the money that we make by taxing our own exports to them 

Time and again, the Government repeats lines from the gas lobby.   

It’s an undeniably clear case of vested interests versus the public interest. And the Government continues to wonder why its primary vote is consistently declining.  

In the lead-up to the Budget, the Prime Minister dismissed this reform as ‘populist’. That was a mistake.   

When the Prime Minister calls this proposed reform populist, he is seeking to diminish your valid concerns.  

He is trying to convince you that’s it’s unreasonable to desire a fair return on the resources that you own.  

He is trying to persuade you that you simply can’t ask for more of what’s already yours.  

And when he blocks this reform, he is not just disregarding the will of the people — he is hamstringing his own government’s ability to deliver the services and cost-of-living support we so desperately need. 

Because that’s exactly what we saw in this Budget.  

We heard two things from the Government in past weeks.  

First, we heard about the need to find savings wherever we could.  

And second, we heard this Budget would be all about tax reform.   

By deciding to leave a gas export tax out of this budget, the government has directly undermined both these goals.  

If the Government chose to raise that extra $17 billion, it would be under far less pressure to reduce funding and cut valuable services.  

We would not, for example, be forcing people with disabilities to bear the brunt of government savings through NDIS cuts.   

And if this budget was focused on tax reform, why did the Government leave the most obvious area for reform untouched? 

In fact, the Budget shows revenue from the existing tax on offshore gas, the PRRT, is actually going down – from $1.9 billion this year to $1.25 billion in 2029–30.  

This projected decline is coming despite high international gas prices caused by the wars in Ukraine and Iran. It is coming despite a huge increase in gas export volumes. And it is coming despite the changes made to the PRRT in 2023, which the Government claimed would increase revenue. 

In light of all of this, you’d think the Government would be jumping at the bit to secure an extra $17 billion a year.  

Although it’s chosen to let this opportunity pass, the fight is not over.  

The Budget is not the only window for reform. The Government could turn around tomorrow and announce a 25% tax on gas exports.  

And I believe the pressure will continue to grow stronger. My colleagues on the Crossbench and I will keep the beating the drum on this issue. We will keep giving voice to your demands.  

And with your help, it won’t be long before the Government simply cannot afford to ignore us anymore.