“I CAN’T STAY SILENT ANY LONGER!” — Former PM Tony Abbott breaks his silence, revealing “hidden truths” behind the gas tɑx push, as he says Australians being misled
Tony Abbott says Australians being ‘misled’ over gas tax push
Tony Abbott says Aussies have been lied to as a major call is made on the tax issue everyone has been talking about this week.
Former Prime Minister Tony Abbott has said Australians were being “misled” by campaigners for bigger taxes on gas exports, comparing public support for the plan to the popularity of “stoning witches” in the past.
Mr Abbott, an ex-Coalition prime minister, pushed back against the move to impose new royalties on the industry during an episode of the Karl Stefanovic Podcast.
Claims gas producers provided less tax than what was recouped via beer excises were “totally false”, he said, claiming the industry paid $20 billion in taxes, while beer companies paid $2 billion.
“The public loves this story,” Mr Stefanovic put to him.
“If you go back far enough, the public liked stoning witches and things like that,” Mr Abbott joked.
“The public can sometimes be misled, and on this it is being.”
His comments came as news emerged that Anthony Albanese’s government was not expected to pursue changes to taxes on gas exports in the May budget.
Independent Senator David Pocock said he was “appalled but not surprised” at the reports, and accused the Prime Minister and Mr Abbott of “parroting gas industry talking points”.
The call for a 25 per cent royalty on export profits has gained momentum across the voter base. Polling from the Australia Institute in March found just five per cent of respondents disagreed with a flat tax on exports.
But senior politicians, including Mr Albanese, have warned it could dampen investment in the industry.
Major gas companies Santos and Woodside enjoyed a jump in share prices on Thursday, after a week in which the industry was raked over the coals at a Senate inquiry into taxation settings.
The Prime Minister echoed the Australian Energy Producers this week when saying companies were already paying a combined $22 billion per year in royalties, corporate tax and the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT).
“And without that investment, that’s come from North America and Japan … we wouldn’t be having a debate because there wouldn’t have seen that extraction occur,” he told the ABC.
According to the energy producer’s lobby, hiking taxes would lead to less investment in the industry and result in higher prices and a shortage of gas for Australians.
The $21.9 billion figure the Australian Energy Producers said the industry paid in taxes last year came from a survey of its members.
The government has modelled options for tax reforms in this space but, the ABC reports, there was a consensus that now was not the time to hike rates amid a global energy shock.
Meanwhile, former treasury secretary Ken Henry told the inquiry this week it was time to “stop the crap” and impose new taxes.
“In the national interest, just do it and stop the crap the Australian public has put up with for decades now,” he said.
Mr Pocock said on Friday morning that politicians “have been elected to represent their communities and should be putting them ahead of multinational gas companies”.
“This just makes me more determined to go harder on our campaign to get a 25 per cent tax on gas export revenue,” he said in a statement.
Woodside chief Liz Westcott was challenged at the company’s annual general meeting on Thursday by Greens Senator Steph Hodgins-May, who chaired this week’s inquiry.
The company told media a 25 per cent revenue-based royalty on gas exports – as proposed by campaigners – would render its $30 billion Browse project “uneconomic”.
Asked whether this showed the model was “broken”, Ms Westcott said Woodside respected the rights of Australians and agreed they need a fair return for these finite resources.
“We also understand the need to have an appropriate tax system,” she said.
“The current tax system is giving Australians a fair return.
“In 2025 Woodside paid $2 billion in taxes. We have an effective tax rate of 44 per cent.”
She said the estimated tax generated by its new venture the Scarborough energy project – located 375km off the Pilbara coast – was $55 billion.
The PRRT is a 40 per cent tax on profits for oil and gas that it primarily applied to Australia’s offshore gas fields.
Companies are able to offset any sales of gas from such projects with the costs of construction and operations, meaning it can take years before any PRRT is accrued.
Senior executives from Shell this week told the Senate inquiry it paid $109 million in PRRT last year but had not paid any in the decade before.
They confirmed the company had been selling gas from its Gorgon project in Western Australia over that period, with Australian head Cecile Wake saying Shell had also invested US$60 billion.
The campaign for tax reform has highlighted the massive sovereign wealth funds generated in nations like Qatar and Norway, which impose significant resource taxes.
Industry figures have said the economics were different in Australia as only private companies that took the financial risk of extracting and selling the products, unlike state-owned operations in Qatar and Norway.
Mr Pocock said it was time for the government to stop “falling for the spin” of multinational companies who have warned higher royalties would make Australia an unreliable partner.
“The only thing that will change is the profits of these giant multinational gas companies,” he said.
“Most of our exports are in long-term contracts and global commodity markets dictate the price of gas, not Australian suppliers.
“Countries like Norway heavily tax their oil and gas and nobody calls them an unreliable ally.
“These are finite resources. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”