Doug Cameron (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

I would also like to make a contribution to this debate on the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Reporting of Gas Reserves) Bill 2018. I don't understand what the One Nation political party are trying to achieve here. What they are arguing is that the titles administrator should take functions to do with taxation. I've had a look at the titles administrator and what the functions of the titles administrator are. The titles administrator is appointed by the Secretary of the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science. That's done under section 695A of the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Act 2006.

The titles administrator is not responsible in relation to seeking to increase tax that is gleaned from the offshore gas industry. Neither is it associated with the Taxation Office. It's responsible for the day-to-day administration of all petroleum and greenhouse gas titles in Commonwealth waters in Australia and is the first point of contact for matters relating to offshore titles administration. It operates on a cost recovery basis, funded by the petroleum industry. Its key functions in Commonwealth waters are to provide information, assessments, analysis, reports, advice and recommendations to members of the joint authorities and the responsible Commonwealth ministers under the OPGGS Act and associated regulations. It facilitates life of title administration, including but not limited to joint authority consideration of changes to permit conditions, and approval and registration of transfers and dealings associated with offshore petroleum titles. It manages the collection, management and release of data. It keeps the registers of petroleum and greenhouse gas storage titles.

The joint authorities are the decision-makers for the granting of the petroleum titles that underpin petroleum exploration and development—exploration permits, retention leases and production licences. NOPTA provides advice and recommendations in relation to these decisions. NOPTA has the authority to grant short-term titles. It utilises its technical and administrative experience to develop guidance and legislation through the Offshore Resources Branch. The states and the Northern Territory maintain a titles administrator role in their respective state and Territory waters. NOPTA'S offices are located in Perth.

If you really want to deal with the issue of tax avoidance in relation to the offshore gas industry, you don't do it, in my view, through what One Nation are proposing in this bill. I think this is another example of One Nation just not getting it, not understanding what the real issues are and looking for any argument they can put up to justify the nonsense that they raise continually in this place, which is mainly to deal with race issues, to attack Australians who are not born in Australia. This is just typical, so they can get out there and argue, 'We're trying to get more tax for the battlers out there in Australia.' That's got nothing to do with it. This is about One Nation trying to put up another smokescreen to try to pretend that they actually make a contribution of some significance in this place. The reality is they make no contribution of any significance in this place other than trying to push this place towards debating issues of race and religion, debating issues that divide the community. That's what One Nation do in this place; that's their modus operandi. That's how they get into this place.

If you look at Senator Hanson's past record, originally it was about attacks on Indigenous Australians, then it moved to Asian Australians, then it moved to Muslims. That's been Senator Hanson's modus operandi in this place. She is divisive and she pulls terrible stunts, like coming in here in a burqa, to try to create more division in this country. It's absolutely shameful. And for her to come in here and try to pretend that One Nation has any interest in or actually any comprehension of the complexities of the petroleum resource rent tax and all the issues that go to that just beggars belief. It is simply to try to justify One Nation—that they actually do something a little bit different from the race baiting that is their bread and butter in this place.

So I've got no sympathy for this bill in the context of what's been put up. Getting the National Offshore Petroleum Titles Administrator to have any contribution to this issue is just a nonsense. This is a taxation issue—a very significant taxation issue. My view is that if the offshore petroleum industry are not paying appropriate tax in this country then they should be paying it. Even this government—a government that is so divided, this government that is an absolute rabble of a government, a government with a weak Prime Minister—has had to address this issue, and it's done that by appointing an individual, former Treasury official Mike Callaghan, to do what the government describes as a comprehensive and holistic review.

Now, we support a comprehensive and holistic review into whether the offshore gas industry is paying their fair share of tax. That's an appropriate thing to do. The Auditor-General's report into one offshore project on the North West Shelf, in an industry that's worth $200 billion, found a $5 billion bonanza in tax deductions taken by companies behind the project. These companies were Woodside, Chevron, BP, Shell and BHP Billiton, which have all reduced their royalty bills. That means less money coming to the Australian government to pay for hospitals, to pay for education, to pay for schools, to get a decent vocational education system and to get more apprentices employed around the country. These are the issues that are required to be dealt with—

Senator Hanson interjecting—

And, Senator Hanson, you can mouth off all you like down there; people understand that—