Adam Bandt (Melbourne, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Bob Muntz, a longstanding member of the Victorian Greens, passed away last month. I express on behalf of the Australian Greens our condolences to his family.

Bob was the cherished husband of MaryCon and a devoted father of Alice and Julian. Bob was born in 1947 in Geelong, went to school in Colac and, after obtaining a degree from Monash University and in 1968 beginning a Master of Science at the University of Melbourne, very quickly became active in opposition to the Vietnam War, which subsequently led to him being sacked from his work with the department of agriculture after the intervention of the infamous police Special Branch.

Bob was called up to fight in Vietnam in 1967 and became a founding member of the Draft Resisters Union. Subsequently Bob went underground until the December 1972 election ended Australia's involvement in the war. Bob's deep commitment to social justice and the liberation of the people of South-East Asia was formed during this period and shaped the rest of his life as he continued to work tirelessly with aid agencies such as Oxfam and with trade unions and solidarity movements—including with the Philippines, Indonesia and East Timor, where he was a witness to the Santa Cruz massacre in Dili and where he was wounded.

Bob joined the Greens, standing for election in 2007, and was an important part of the Greens' international work as well as many local Greens activities. As someone who shared a local branch with him, I want to thank Bob Muntz for his tireless efforts and his continued personal support. In the short time I have it's impossible to sum up the incredible life Bob had, but there can be no better conclusion than the words of East Timor President Jose Ramos-Horta, who said, 'Bob's passing leaves a huge gap in the global struggle for justice and human rights', and, 'His memory will continue to inspire future generations of activists and defenders of freedom, peace and human rights.' Vale, Bob Muntz.

There are 91 coal and gas corporations and corporate entities operating in Australia, but going through the tax database we found that 54 of those 91 corporations paid no tax—not a cent. Just to spell that out: for every coal and gas corporation operating in this country, three out of five of them paid no tax. And those 54 companies boasted $100 billion in income last year. So $100 billion in income but not a cent in tax—what an absolute scam! Seventy per cent of gas corporations in Australia don't pay any tax. Thirty-three gas corporations earned over $68 billion in revenue and didn't pay any tax. Petronas Australia—$1.14 billion in total income, no tax paid. TotalEnergies—$2.6 billion in revenue, no tax paid. Chevron Australia Downstream Holdings—$5 billion in total income, no tax paid. ExxonMobil Australia—$15.5 billion in total income, no tax paid. They have never once paid tax in eight years of corporate tax reports.

Coal companies aren't much better. Half of them avoided paying any tax, and the half who didn't made a tidy $28 billion in total income. To top it all off, some of these coal and gas corporations are getting handouts from the government subsidised by the taxpayer. That's billions of dollars that could be used for more housing, mental health care, disability support and students struggling with completely unaffordable degrees. We're all victims of a grand extortion, a swindle, a fraud—and Labor and the coalition are all in on it. In the 2023 financial year the major parties received $2 million in donations from fossil fuel corporations, companies like Adani, Woodside, Santos and Chevron—and they're just the ones we know about, due to our broken donations system. And what do we get? A Labor government that's giving 14 times more money to corporations to turbocharge the climate and cost-of-living crises than it's giving to the national disaster relief fund. It's a joke, and people are sick of it.

There's not a gas shortage in Australia; there's a shortage of integrity. There's a shortage of politicians who actually represent their constituents and not the interests of coal and gas corporations that are paying them. One nurse shouldn't pay more tax than the 33 gas corporations. One teacher shouldn't pay more tax than 21 coal companies.

If the old parties think they can continue to get away with this rort, they've got another think coming. People are sick of the status quo. They're sick of watching corporations profit, and pollute, while their lives get harder. We need change.