Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

The Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Benefit to Australia) Bill 2020 seeks to insert a new objects clause within that act, which reads as follows:

… to ensure that the exploitation of these natural resources is for the benefit of the Australian community.

One Nation have claimed that this will have ramifications for the operation of the act, including the cancellation of underutilised oil and gas leases and the implementation of gas reservation requirements. The department thinks otherwise, warning that, in its view, the proposed amendment is worded broadly and that it's unclear what benefit is being measured or how it could be quantified.

As far as the Australian Greens go, we want to place a couple of things on the record. Firstly, the gas industry in this country are one of the worst corporate actors in Australia's history. They have made obscene profits by cooking our planet, trashing our environment and trashing cultural heritage. And while they've been doing all those despicable and disgraceful things they have avoided paying almost any tax and have employed barely anyone, while funnelling billions of dollars offshore in profits. They have corrupted our politics with political donations and with one of the most smoothly operating revolving doors in this country, where former ministers and former major-party politicians in this place roll out once they've retired into cushy consultancy work with the gas sector.

Of course, the gas sector is not alone in that—the banking sector does it, the gaming sector does it and the coal sector does it—but the gas sector is right up with those other rent-seekers, those other parasites and those other destroyers of our democracy in regard to a very, very smoothly operating revolving door, which has very, very deleterious impacts on our body politic.

Let me make it clear what gas is in this country. It is the fastest-growing source of pollution in Australia, which is driving the breakdown of our climate. Even as we give these speeches today in debating this bill our climate is breaking down around us. Gas is as dirty as coal. Of course, like coal, the overwhelming majority of the gas that we extract or mine in this country is exported. Interestingly, in Australia the biggest domestic user of the gas that's not exported is the gas industry itself. It's not the manufacturing industry or domestic consumers. The biggest domestic user of gas in Australia is the gas industry itself. That's because it requires massive amounts of dirty energy to extract the gas and to process it into liquid to get it ready for export.

We heard some very interesting facts and figures from Senator Patrick. I'm going to add some further facts and figures for this chamber now in regard to the abject failure of the gas industry to pay its fair share of tax and the extent to which the gas industry is polluting our environment and driving the breakdown of our climate. In the 2018-19 financial year, 28 major gas companies sold $55,112,837,464 of gas and paid no tax whatsoever. No tax whatsoever was paid by those 28 major gas companies which sold over $55 billion worth of gas. They paid no tax.

It's about time we cracked down on tax avoidance in this country. It's about time we forced big corporations to pay their fair share of tax so that we can fund the supports for our people that the Australian population expects—the public services that they expect, like a functioning hospital system, a strong public education system, extra support for people with disabilities, extra support for people in aged care and extra investment in public transport to help us reduce our greenhouse gas emissions. Those things we can fund if we make the big corporates pay their fair share of tax.

Big corporate tax avoidance is not limited to the gas sector in this country, but, boy oh boy, they are right up there in terms of their absolute tax avoidance. I will just mention a few companies on the way through. For example, Chevron Australia Holdings Pty Ltd emitted 13.1 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent gases in 2018-19. In that financial year Chevron Australia Holdings Pty Ltd gave over $124,000 in political donations in this country and paid zero company tax. In the 2018-19 financial year, Woodside Petroleum Ltd emitted 9.2 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, gave over $280,000 in political donations and paid no company tax whatsoever. In the 2018-19 financial year, Santos Ltd emitted 5.8 million tonnes of CO2 equivalent, gave $150,000-plus in political donations and paid zero company tax. These corporations are leeches on our body politic. They are leeches and parasites on our country and they are getting away scot-free by avoiding their tax obligations in Australia and paying no tax whatsoever. Why are they doing that? Because they've got the two major parties quite comfortably in their pocket.

It is no surprise to the Australian Greens that we are seeing a unity ticket on this legislation between the Liberal and National parties and the ALP, because they both support the so-called gas led recovery. They both support opening up massive new gas fields for fracking in places like the Galilee Basin and the Beetaloo Basin. Of course, they both love a bit of coal-hugging and support, on a unity ticket, for the Carmichael coalmine proposed by Adani. Not only do these 28 major gas companies dodge their tax obligations but they employ less than 0.2 per cent of the Australian workforce. Over the journey they've given tens of millions of dollars in donations, and now in return you've got Mr Morrison and Mr Albanese wanting to give the gas industry our public money to expand. Well, enough is enough. Stop selling yourselves out, stop selling Australians out, stop selling our climate out and stop coming in here and shilling for a gas industry buying your votes with their dirty political donations.

An expansion of our gas industry using public funds, as supported by both major parties in this place, will not only squeeze out cheaper and cleaner renewables but actually lock this country into decades of higher pollution, particularly greenhouse gas pollution, and higher energy prices. The International Energy Agency has said that we cannot have one single new piece of fossil fuel infrastructure if we want to meet the Paris Agreement. But, of course, while both major parties in this place love to pay lip-service to the Paris Agreement, when you look at what they're actually doing, they are both actively seeking to undermine it. Gas has no place in a clean, modern economy. We need to be building a clean, modern economy so we can drive thousands of jobs in construction, tens of thousands more in smart manufacturing, and tens of thousands more in reforesting, rewilding and urban greening so that we can actually help nature to draw carbon down from our atmosphere.

The Greens are proposing a second reading amendment, which has been circulated in the chamber. It's based on our view that, while we should be utilising our natural resources to the benefit of the Australian community, we have to be careful about defining what that benefit actually is. Fossil gas is cooking our planet and it's doing so, in the main, through the methane released during extraction and transport, through the liquefaction of gas into LNG for export, and through the combustion of gas in buildings, energy and the electricity sector. Benefit to the Australian community, particularly if you—as the Greens do—place value on the wellbeing of future generations of Australians, must take into account these climate impacts. If we're going to have any hope of meeting the temperature goals of the Paris Agreement to prevent us from driving over the climate cliff into significant collapse of our civilisation, we must have a plan to keep gas in the ground. That is the why we are proposing a second reading amendment in the terms that the Senate is of the opinion that Australia's offshore oil and gas industry is a large contributor to climate change and that it is to the benefit of the Australian community to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below two degrees above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels.

As I said, what a surprise that we are now facing the Liberal-National parties and the ALP on a unity ticket on gas, doing the bidding of their dirty corporate donors in this place, preparing their post-parliamentary careers through one of the most smoothly operating revolving doors in this place! Don't even get me started on how we negotiated the treaty over the Timor Sea gas with Timor-Leste, when we bugged the Timor-Leste cabinet when they were deliberating over the treaty. As a result, some of the big gas corporations absolutely made off like bandits and made obscene profits while Australia's government actively worked to ensure that Timor-Leste, one of the poorest countries in the world, was dudded through those negotiations. The ramifications of that are still happening today as Bernard Collaery faces court over a politically motivated set of charges and Witness K has pled guilty. We are awaiting developments in those legal matters.

I say to colleagues: if you want to have a look at the power of big corporate gas, read Mr Collaery's book and weep at the way that the gas industry in this country, like the coal industry, the banking industry and the gaming industry, owns politicians in this parliament, how they capture those politicians with their dirty corporate donations and how they buy votes with institutionalised bribery and the promise of cushy, well-paid jobs once people have finished their efforts shilling for the gas industry in this place. I move the Greens second reading amendment:

At the end of the motion, add: ", but the Senate is of the opinion that:

(a) Australia's offshore oil and gas industry is a large contributor to climate change; and

(b) it is to the benefit of the Australian community to hold the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2°C above pre-industrial levels and pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels."