Australians support taxing gas exports more, survey finds
A majority of Australians said they would support a new tax on gas exports regardless of which political party proposed it, a policy think tank survey has found.
A YouGov survey conducted on behalf of the Australia Institute found that over half of Australians would support taxing gas exports more to encourage producers to sell more gas domestically, regardless of which political side suggested it.
When respondents believed the idea came from former Liberal leader Peter Dutton, 61.7 per cent supported it, while 59 supported the proposal when it was attributed to Greens leader Adam Bandt.
“Our research shows that Australians overwhelmingly support the idea that gas exports should be taxed, irrespective of which political party suggested it,” Mark Ogge, principal advisor at The Australia Institute, said.
While Australia has an abundance of gas, it exports most of it; in 2022–23, Australia exported 73 per cent of its domestic natural gas production, the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water found. Research by the Australia Institute indicated that over half (56 per cent) of gas exported by Australia attracted zero royalty payments.
The Australia Institute warned that Australia’s current taxation settings did not reap a fair return from the loss of its non-renewable fossil fuel resources.
From 2020 to 2024, multinational companies made $149 billion from royalty-free exports of Australian gas, the Australia Institute found. If royalties had been charged, an additional $13.3 billion in tax revenue could have been raised, they estimated.
“The billions of dollars in forgone revenue each year from effectively giving away Australian gas for free could be invested in a sovereign wealth fund (as it is in Norway) or used to raise productivity and increase living standards of Australians by funding schools, hospitals, renewable energy, and other needed public infrastructure,” the Australia Institute said in a press release.
Australia taxes its resources through the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, which imposes a 40 per cent tax on profits derived from the extraction of resources such as gas. However, the system allows producers to significantly minimise their PRRT tax bills by deducting capital expenses, carrying forward losses, and by undervaluing extracted gas before it is processed, the Australia Institute said.
The policy think tank proposed that more tax could be captured by raising the PRRT above 40 per cent, improving the way that gas was valued before processing, reducing uplift rates so companies couldn’t carry forward expenses excessively, and by taxing companies at a higher rate when they made windfall profits.
The YouGov survey found that 55.7 per cent of Australians believed that Australia exported too much gas, while 72.3 supported a parliamentary inquiry to examine whether Australia was getting its fair share of profits from selling its gas.
The survey’s findings indicated that proposals to capture more benefits from Australia’s gas industry were popular regardless of which political party they were associated with.
“Australia is awash with gas, and our research shows Australians know it. Forcing the gas industry to prioritise Australians ahead of exports is popular at the ballot box, and it would be foolish for whoever forms Government to miss this opportunity,” Ogge said.
“With all sides of politics finally recognising Australia’s gas export problems, the next Parliament will be in a good position to do something about it.”
