‘It’s fired people up’: support grows, including within Labor, for new gas tax to curb wartime profits | Gas
The gas industry is mobilizing against a new tax on the sector as political momentum builds for the government to use the May budget to prevent producers from profiting from the Middle East war.
Australian Energy Producers (AEP) chief executive Samantha McCulloch claimed a new tax would penalize Asian trading partners that Australia has relied on to supply more fuel amid the global energy crisis.
The gas sector was blinded by the emerging facts Treasure Modeling options included a new tax on windfall profits from gas and thermal coal companies, as well as possible changes to the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax (PRRT) and corporate income tax.
Government, industry and opposition sources believe that the public’s mentality regarding taxing resource giants has changed, allowing the Albanian government to pursue changes it deemed too politically risky a few months ago.
Sources point to a campaign led by independent senator David Pocock, social media influencer Konrad Benjamin, famous for Punter’s Politics, and progressive think tank the Australia Institute, highlighting how much tax gas companies pay.
Labor unions, the Greens and other opponents currently support a flat 25 per cent tax on gas exports; The Australia Institute estimates this could raise $17 billion a year.
The campaign outraged the gas industry; AEP took out a full-page advert in the Daily Telegraph this week, challenging the line that beer excise duty raises more revenue than PRRT.
A social media clip of Pocock asking senior public servants to compare the returns of the beer excise tax to the PRRT achieved 4.2 million views on Facebook, highlighting the reach of the campaign.
McCulloch accused the gas tax campaign of spreading “misinformation”; This criticism was supported by shadow resources minister Susan McDonald.
“I regret that Australians are not being given the opportunity to see the full picture by groups whose sole purpose is to stop fossil fuel activity in this country,” McDonald said.
Pocock told Guardian Australia the beer excise comparison had resonated with the public, leaving gas companies responsible for countering changing public sentiment.
“It got people galvanized and excited. You’re really starting to see leaders start to feel the pressure,” Pocock said.
“In terms of public support on this issue, [there’s a] “We are seeing the vast majority and the gas industry now mounting all sorts of PR campaigns to counter the widespread understanding that this industry has not historically given us a fair share and needs to change urgently.”
Labor backer Michelle Ananda-Rajah and former industry minister Ed Husic have publicly supported increasing taxes on gas companies. The fact that Liberal leader Andrew Hastie is also open to this idea reveals the division within the Coalition.
Guardian Australia spoke to several Labor MPs who believe there is internal party support for change.
A Labor MP, speaking on condition of anonymity, said: “I’m getting a lot of pushback and I think David Pocock has run a pretty good campaign on this issue.”
They said reform of gas export duties in the budget was important, but said Labor would need to get tougher on gas companies than the current PRRT otherwise “there wouldn’t be much point”.
Another Labor MP said in private that there was strong community support for the export tax among his constituents and that the issue had been brewing in their community for a long time.
Another MP said there was a group who were “genuinely keen” on the export tax but were concerned the public might oppose the policy if they believed it would mean household energy prices would rise.
McCulloch, whose members include Woodside, Santos and Chevron, claimed a new tax would damage Australia’s reputation with trading partners such as Japan and South Korea, major importers of Australian LNG.
Japanese Ambassador to Australia Kazuhiro Suzuki this week echoed a warning from the head of the International Energy Agency, saying a “surprise” in the form of a new tax would cause investors to shift their business to other countries.
Tokyo has long resisted Australian government interventions that could potentially disrupt its export market, but the ambassador’s comments were particularly telling given that Anthony Albanese is trying to strengthen the relationship with Japan to secure extra fuel supplies.
The Prime Minister this week issued a joint statement with Singapore on energy trade, following extensive appeals to regional trading partners including Malaysia, South Korea and Japan.
On Friday, Albanese made his most direct appeal yet to other countries to ensure a consistent flow of fuel to Australia.
“Our gas exports are very important in the region, the conditions we are in are as follows: [that] Australia is a reliable supplier. “We expect reciprocity in our economic relations,” Albanese said.
