Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

The National Party have put forward today's urgency motion. This is the same party who held the resources portfolio between 2013 and 2022 and failed to introduce a domestic gas reserve policy in Commonwealth waters. If a domestic gas reserve policy had been introduced, Australians would not be facing a shortage of natural gas or high priced electricity. Budget Paper No. 1 shows Australians will receive more from beer drinkers than foreign owned multinational companies exporting liquefied natural gas.

When I introduced the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Benefit to Australia) Bill 2020 to get more natural gas for Australia, not one party supported me. We can only blame the parties that have formed government for the high price of gas which has killed manufacturing in Australia and which is driving electricity prices higher. I'm not going to let the Nationals virtue signal on natural gas when, in government, they helped foreign-owned companies avoid paying tax in Australia. If the Nationals had stopped taking $55,000 a year from oil and gas companies for corporate membership of their party, they might have been free from the criticism of conflict of interest.

Australians expect their government to act in their best interests. That won't happen while the big parties take millions from the oil and gas companies. As I keep reiterating, until we deal with the gas of the North West Shelf and get these multinational companies to pay their fair share of tax in Australia and get a gas supply from Western Australia to the east coast of Australia or build more pipelines to service the needs of Australians, we are going to lose more industries and more manufacturing because of the lack of gas. This has been ill thought out and ill prepared by governments who have not fought for the benefit of the Australian people. It's an absolute crying shame that they never supported my bill, the Offshore Petroleum and Greenhouse Gas Storage Amendment (Benefit to Australia) Bill, which was in the best interests of all Australians.