{"id":559269,"date":"2026-03-23T15:36:13","date_gmt":"2026-03-23T15:36:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559269\/"},"modified":"2026-03-23T15:36:13","modified_gmt":"2026-03-23T15:36:13","slug":"iea-chief-warns-australia-against-sudden-gas-export-taxes-as-albanese-says-stable-predictable-world-gone-fossil-fuels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/559269\/","title":{"rendered":"IEA chief warns Australia against sudden gas export taxes as Albanese says \u2018stable, predictable\u2019 world gone | Fossil fuels"},"content":{"rendered":"

The head of the International Energy Agency has warned the Albanese government against sudden changes to corporate taxes, suggesting a proposed 25% export levy on windfall gas profits<\/a> would spook investors.<\/p>\n

It was revealed last week that Anthony Albanese\u2019s department has asked Treasury to model the effects of placing a flat 25% tax on gas exports, and to model possible changes to the petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) and corporate income tax.<\/p>\n

The move comes as gas profits soar amid the global energy crisis sparked by the war in Iran, and could lead to changes as soon as the May federal budget.<\/p>\n

But, ahead of his meeting with Albanese in Canberra on Monday, the IEA\u2019s executive director, Fatih Birol<\/a>, said energy companies wanted a predictable set of rules and tax to spend their money within.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Breaking News Australia email<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cEnergy investors are like butterflies. When they are scared, they fly away,\u201d he said at the National Press Club.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo you should be careful \u2026 that those companies feel that the investment framework is predictable for them.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt the same time, it is important that the consumers, the citizens of the country, which are the real owners of the resource endowment, get their fair share from the profits that those companies are making.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"WorldWorld losing more barrels of oil each day than in two 1970s crises combined, IEA chief says \u2013 video<\/p>\n

Albanese told a Minerals Council of Australia event on Monday night the government would \u201ccontinue to look at every practical option to protect Australia from the worst of this international crisis\u201d.<\/p>\n

He said even an immediate end to the war would leave \u201ca long economic tail\u201d for governments and business to reckon with.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe stable, predictable world of ever-expanding free trade is gone \u2013 and it will not be returning any time soon,\u201d Albanese said.<\/p>\n

The Greens, crossbenchers and the ACT senator David Pocock have urged the government to do more <\/a>to capture billions of dollars in potential revenue as prices soar.<\/p>\n

But the gas industry\u2019s peak representative body, Australian Energy Producers, said a 25% levy would come at the \u201cworst possible time for Australia\u2019s economy and energy security\u201d.<\/p>\n

In question time on Monday, the treasurer, Jim Chalmers<\/a>, told parliament the government had not changed its tax policy. Similar language has been used by Labor ahead of changes to personal income tax rates and superannuation concessions.<\/p>\n

\u201c[We] more than believe it is necessary that Australians receive a fair return from the natural resources that they own,\u201d Chalmers said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have taken some steps in the course of the life of this government to make sure that offshore gas companies, for example, pay more tax sooner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Labor senator Michelle Ananda-Rajah became the first government member to publicly back the proposed gas tax changes, saying the industry was a \u201chighly lucrative\u201d for producers.<\/p>\n

She said Labor\u2019s updates to the PRRT had pulled in extra takings from resources companies, but that the Middle East conflict had seen gas prices spike.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe gas companies are raking it in as a result of this conflict,\u201d Ananda-Rajah told the Senate.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do agree with the Greens \u2026 that we need to go further, and I think that Australian gas producers have been operating in fairly generous circumstances for some time, and yes, they do create jobs, yes they do create revenue, yes they do create value.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ananda-Rajah rebuffed suggestions that such a change would disincentivise investment in Australia.<\/p>\n

The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, said her party would support legislation for a 25% export tax immediately. She accused \u201cgreedy gas corporations\u201d of \u201ctaking the piss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019ve been price-gouging Australians for far too long, and it\u2019s time our government placed a minimum 25% gas export levy to use that revenue to help people who are in a cost of living crisis,\u201d Waters said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The head of the International Energy Agency has warned the Albanese government against sudden changes to corporate taxes,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":559270,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":{"0":"post-559269","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559269","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=559269"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/559269\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/559270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=559269"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=559269"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=559269"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}