Australia supplies Japan with roughly 40% of its LNG, making the east Asian nation hostile to any market intervention that it considers a threat to the stability of those supplies.<\/p>\n
Gas exporters, including Inpex, whose parent company is partly owned by the Japanese government, have framed the prospect of a 25% export levy as one such risk that could undermine Australia\u2019s standing as a reliable seller.<\/p>\n
Whether that claim has any weight whatsoever is questionable to say the least.<\/p>\n
But it has proven influential for Albanese, who is clearly not prepared to risk a potential backlash from Tokyo and other Asian energy trading partners at the same time Australia is leaning on them for shipments of petrol and diesel during the international oil crisis.<\/p>\n
![\"'Just](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/5985.jpg\")
‘Just do it and stop the crap’: Ken Henry’s blunt response to question of gas tax \u2013\u00a0video <\/p>\n
\u201cThese agreements are to the benefit of both of our people. For Australians, it will mean we are less vulnerable to global shocks like we are seeing right now because of conflict in the Middle East,\u201d Albanese said of the agreements struck on Monday.<\/p>\n
Circumstances have helped the gas companies win the argument this time.<\/p>\n
But the Albanese government will face risks of its own if it doesn\u2019t move eventually.<\/p>\n
Which leads to the second event on Monday.<\/p>\n
Labour Day marches are typically the domain of Labor MPs and their trade union allies, a chance to celebrate their success in progressing the rights of working people.<\/p>\n
At Monday\u2019s event in the Queensland resources town of Gladstone, a different kind of politician was front and centre: David Pocock<\/a>.<\/p>\n The independent senator for the ACT, one of the faces of the campaign for a 25% export tax, was invited to speak at the rally by the Labor-aligned Australian Manufacturing Workers\u2019 Union (AMWU).<\/p>\n \u201cI really believe that we\u2019re at a crossroads as a country,\u201d Pocock told the event, which was also attended by the Gladstone-based Greens senator Penny Allman-Payne.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re seeing record profits at the same time that so many Australians are starting to question and say, \u2018hang on, I\u2019m in a household where we\u2019ve got two incomes and we\u2019re still struggling to pay the rent. We\u2019re still struggling to pay the mortgage and get ahead. Why is it not working for us?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n Albanese might be able to dismiss Pocock and others campaigning for a gas tax as \u201cpopulists\u201d<\/a>.<\/p>\n But can he reasonably attach the same label to the AMWU, or their peak body, the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU)?<\/p>\n