Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to Senator Pocock for the question. This is the advice I have to date: PRRT revenue predominantly relates to oil and gas produced in Bass Strait, and no offshore energy project has paid PRRT yet. Most offshore LNG projects are not expected to pay substantial amounts of PRRT before 2030, whilst earning significant revenues from gas resources. The Treasury review—the gas transfer pricing review—highlighted the shortcomings of the PRRT for the offshore LNG industry and the need to adapt the rules for these types of projects.

The measure that is contained in the budget and that the Treasurer has announced is intended to address this problem and will require the offshore LNG industry to pay more tax sooner. It will bring forward PRRT payments those projects are expected to pay and additional PRRT payments from those projects not expected to pay under current policy settings—in other words, from those who under current settings are likely to return to government certain tax receipts, whose payments it will bring forward, but it will also ensure that some projects which would not pay under current settings would pay some PRRT. The intention is to ensure a return to the Australian community from the gas resources even when there are low prices.