{"id":627291,"date":"2026-04-24T06:15:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:15:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627291\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T06:15:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T06:15:11","slug":"anthony-albanese-accused-of-caving-to-gas-companies-as-labor-set-to-reject-new-export-tax-australian-politics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/627291\/","title":{"rendered":"Anthony Albanese accused of \u2018caving to gas companies\u2019 as Labor set to reject new export tax | Australian politics"},"content":{"rendered":"

Labor is poised to reject a growing push for a new 25% tax on gas exports in next month\u2019s budget, prompting David Pocock<\/a> to accuse the government of \u201ccaving in\u201d to the gas industry.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s understood the government has elected not to pursue a new tax on gas exports in the budget<\/a>, prompted in part by the global oil crisis and Anthony Albanese\u2019s diplomatic efforts in shoring up fuel supply from Asian allies by pledging reliable access to liquefied natural gas.<\/p>\n

The prime minister all but ruled out heeding a public campaign calling for the new tax in interviews on Thursday.<\/p>\n

Less dramatic changes, including reforms to the petroleum resources rent tax or a tax on windfall profits, have not yet been ruled out, and there is strong support inside the Labor caucus for gas reforms.<\/p>\n

But Pocock, the independent senator who has been among those campaigning strongly for a gas export tax<\/a>, reacted angrily to revelations that the government was likely to reject the proposal.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am appalled but not surprised to see the Albanese government caving to gas companies,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Guardian Australia reported on Wednesday that the export tax had been all but rejected<\/a>. Albanese has not publicly ruled out changes to gas tax settings but has voiced caution about the effects of any changes. In interviews published on Thursday, Albanese argued that gas corporations paid $22bn in tax last year.<\/p>\n

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

Pocock noted that a similar figure was claimed by Australian Energy<\/a> Producers, the peak body for the oil and gas industry, in an internal financial survey \u2013 not an official tax department document. In its submission to the gas tax inquiry, the AEP said this survey \u201cestimated\u201d that in the 2024-25 financial year the oil and gas industry paid $21.9bn in taxes and state royalties, not taxes alone.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey pay around about $22bn and importantly as well, one of the things I\u2019ve said is that you do need to acknowledge the tens of billions of dollars of investment that occurs in order to have that gas extracted,\u201d Albanese told the ABC on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\"'Just‘Just do it and stop the crap’: Ken Henry’s blunt response to question of gas tax \u2013\u00a0video <\/p>\n

He wouldn\u2019t confirm or deny if a gas export tax remained under consideration, but added: \u201cSome of the arguments have been put forward, have been a bit disingenuous, and people putting them forward know that that\u2019s the case.\u201d<\/p>\n

Pocock said an additional tax was critical to provide benefits to all Australians.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe want a return on that resource, and yet we have a prime minister and others who are just rolling out the talking points from the gas industry,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think we should have a system where, simply because you have an investment and you have these huge rates of compounding that investment, you get the gas for free \u2026<\/p>\n

\u201cWho else in the economy gets their input for free? Builders are paying for bricks. Bakers are paying for flour. Every hard-working trader out there has to buy their materials and then pay tax. We\u2019re giving gas away for free.\u201d<\/p>\n

The energy minister, Chris Bowen<\/a>, told Triple J on Thursday that the government had to strike a \u201cbalance\u201d on gas exports and taxes, saying Australian gas was important both domestically and for our region.<\/p>\n

Government sources say Albanese has sought to \u201cleverage\u201d Australia\u2019s status as a reliable gas supplier<\/a> to ensure that overseas petrol supplies continue to flow.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve got to keep all your tax settings against all the various competing things the government has to consider \u2013 our trading partners, our own interests, et cetera,\u201d Bowen said.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur gas exports are very important. At the moment we are dealing with a fuel crisis where it\u2019s very important that countries in the region work together \u2013 whether it\u2019s fuel, liquid fuels, oil, diesel, petrol or gas, we are all in this together.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Greens leader, Larissa Waters, was scathing of the news on Friday and claimed that it would allow gas companies \u201cto make obscene wartime profits\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prime minister has a choice in this budget: deliver for the greedy gas corporations, or deliver for the people,\u201d Waters said. \u201cIf he has picked the wrong side today that will be his legacy.\u201d<\/p>\n

The government has come under growing pressure from Labor-aligned trade unions<\/a> and crossbenchers<\/a> to introduce a flat 25% tax on gas exports, which the Australia Institute thinktank estimates could raise $17bn a year.<\/p>\n

But despite revelations last month that the Treasury had been asked to model a windfall profits tax and petroleum resources rent tax changes, the appetite for major interventions appears to have diminished amid the global energy crisis.<\/p>\n

Asked during a trip to Singapore about the prospect of a new gas tax<\/a>, Albanese said the government\u2019s energy priority was \u201csupply, supply and supply\u201d.<\/p>\n

On Friday the government released the independent economic inclusion advisory committee report, which has called for an increase to jobseeker to 90% of the age pension. Pocock said a gas export tax could more than cover the increase.<\/p>\n

\u201cLifting income support to 75% of the aged pension [in the first year], which the Committee has recommended, would cost just $1.6 billion, and would ensure that children in those households have a shot themselves at being Prime Minister one day,\u201d Pocock said.<\/p>\n

The committee has recommended an increase in jobseeker for the last three years but has been ignored by the government. The payment is not expected to be raised in this year\u2019s budget.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Labor is poised to reject a growing push for a new 25% tax on gas exports in next…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":180451,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-627291","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627291","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=627291"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627291\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/180451"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627291"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627291"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627291"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}