In response to Prime Minister Albanese ruling out a gas exports tax on existing contracts in next month’s budget, the Australian Conservation Foundation’s CEO Adam Bandt said:
“The government is letting big gas corporations make massive profits while leaving Australians to pay the price.
“Big gas greed is driving global inflation and fuelling global warming.
“The same corporations driving the cost-of-living crisis are driving the climate crisis.
“Australian gas sent offshore returns home as bushfires, heatwaves, floods and cyclones.
“There will be widespread outrage at cutting services and underfunding nature while refusing to tax gas exports.
“We will keep fighting for a gas exports tax until the Prime Minister reconsiders.
“It’s outrageous that Japan makes more revenue taxing its imports of Australian gas than Australia makes from the export of our gas.
“It’s not ‘dishonest’ to point out that gas giants make big profits selling our gas overseas, pay hardly any gas tax and leave everyone else to pick up the tab.
“What’s ‘dishonest’ is corporations claiming to tackle climate change while opening new gas mines and paying less in gas tax than Australians pay in beer tax.
“A flat 25% tax on Australian gas exports would conservatively generate $17 billion a year – enough to make public transport free in every state and territory and still have cash left over to invest in non-polluting industries and start to repair the damage big gas has done.”