If the federal government implemented a 25% tax on gas exports, which is supported by the ACTU, WELD Australia, The Australia Institute and many others, Australians would finally get a fair return for their resources.
"Ordinary Australians are being pummelled by skyrocketing petrol prices and, as their household bills go through the roof, the gas industry continues to get a free ride," said Dr Richard Denniss, co-CEO of The Australia Institute.
"The conflict in Iran is both driving up the cost of fuel for Australians and flooding multinational gas companies with windfall profits. Meanwhile, the Australian government is doing nothing to make sure Australians get a fair return for their resources that are being shipped overseas.
"It is a failure of public policy that the government has given so much of this country's gas, which belongs to the Australian people, away to multinational companies for free. The continued refusal to tax these companies properly has left us poorer as a nation.
"The Australian government's job is to get the best possible return for the sale of our gas resources. They have utterly failed, and it is time that situation changed."
