The Point Live: New data reveals taxpayers subsidising fossil fuel companies $16.3 billion; Record oil release to ease prices; Husic says it's time to consider gas export tax

It’s been great fun and and an even greater privilege bringing you The Point Live this past sitting fortnight.

There has been so much to talk about. War in the Middle East. A new Opposition Leader at the dispatch box. Mark Carney’s visit. Inflation data. The leaked Coalition election review. Defecting footballers. Littleproud out, Canavan in. Pauline Hanson, Ed Husic and David Pocock piling on the pressure to end the gas industry’s free ride. And, today, revelations that taxpayers are subsidising the fossil fuel industry to the tune of $16.3 billion.

Thanks for the comments and to the MPs, staffers, bureaucrats and the incredible team of contributors to this blog, for making it a place where we talk about what’s important, not what media outlets tell us is news … all supported by detailed research and expert analysis.

Fresh from the release of her extraordinary new book, Where It All Went Wrong – The Case Against John Howard – Amy Remeikis has been working on another project which I’m sure will knock your socks off.

Just a short break for our politicians before they’re all back in Canberra for seven sitting days from March 23, the last before the Farrer by-election (May 9) and federal budget (May 11).

There are three sitting days scheduled around the budget, then they won’t all be back together in the capital until June 22.

Amy will be back to take you through those, as only she can.

Until then … be strong, be bold.

When the Albanese government announced its now-abandoned changes to Freedom of Information (FOI) last year, cabinet minister Mark Butler claimed the FOI system was being “inundated by anonymous requests”, many of which they were sure had been “AI bot generated”.

There was no publicly available evidence for this, and the changes would have made it harder and more expensive for Australians to get information from the government.

But while the government sees AI-generated correspondence as a problem when used by Australians to get information from their government, it apparently thinks it’s fine when used to generate answers.

Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher told reporters at a press conference last week there was “definitely some capacity” to consider using the government’s new GovAI chatbot to assist with questions taken on notice by government departments. There are currently over 1600 such questions sitting unanswered in an online backlog.

According to the Federal government, Australians seeking information from the government using AI is a crisis. But the government using AI as part of answering questions and providing information to the public? That’s something they’re “very optimistic about”.

To be fair, the Prime Minister has barely finished the phrase “I ask that further questions be placed on the notice paper” before I’m reaching for the mute button after Question Time.

So, I missed this too.

Straight after QT, the Independent Member for Warringah, Zali Steggall got to her feet to explain she had been misrepresented by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese in his answers to questions about staffing allocations from the Independent Member for Mackellar, Sophie Scamps.

Member for Warringah: 

Thank you. The first allegation the Prime Minister made was that there was no reporting of personal staff allocations to crossbenchers in the Morrison government. That is incorrect.

Speaker: 

It’s not about allegations. You need to state to the House what the misrepresentation was, what the words were — not an interpretation of the words, exactly what the words were — and then explain to the House how you were misrepresented.

Member for Warringah:

The Prime Minister’s words were: “Not only did the Morrison government not report that or come to the dispatch box, they were pretty quiet about that in that corner about it too, Mr Speaker.” Those figures are reported at Senate estimates every time. There was no non-disclosure.

Member for Warringah: 

The Prime Minister stated: “The greatest number of representations that I had from crossbenchers in the House and in the Senate isn’t about health policy, it’s about education policy or housing — it’s about their staff.” I have been misrepresented. Again, that is not correct. The largest number of representations that I have made to the Prime Minister and the government is to accelerate climate action and truth in political advertising.

A bill before Parliament – the Private Health Transparency Bill – could force private health insurers to be more transparent in how much they charge Australians for healthcare.

The bill would require insurers to publicly disclose specialists fees. As it stands, people don’t necessarily know how much they will end up paying to see a specialist until it’s too late, which can mean people who need care are left to pay huge out-of-pocket bills.

This bill also seeks to outlaw product phoenixing, a deceptive loophole used by private health insurers to circumvent Commonwealth oversight of premium increases.

Annual increases in premiums have to be approved by the Health Minister. But, to get around that, private health insurers sometimes stop offering popular policies only to launch near-identical versions at much higher prices. Under the bill before parliament, the Minister would be given the authority to approve premiums on new products too.

Health Minister Mark Butler has approved a 4.41% increase to health insurance premiums across all existing hospital and extras policies, which will take effect in April. But premiums for some top-tier private health insurance policies have increased by a staggering 58% in just the last five years.

Claims that the gas industry is a huge employer are as regular as they are wrong. There was another one in the Senate today, with LNP Senator Susan McDonald saying that the gas industry employs “hundreds of thousands of Australians”.

Here Senator McDonald claims there are hundreds of thousands of Australians employed in the gas industry.

The actual number of people employed in oil and gas extraction according to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics data is just 27,400 people. Note that this also includes people in the oil industry.

If we assume that by “hundreds of thousands”, Senator McDonald meant 200,000 jobs, then she is inflating employment in the gas industry to about eight times bigger than it actually is.

Independent MP Sophie Scamps has asked Prime Minister Anthony Albanese about reports that he offered his Liberal–National Coalition rivals extra staff in exchange for their support for the Labor Government’s crackdown on freedom of information rights. To her credit, then Opposition Leader Sussan Ley turned him down.  

Dr Scamps asked if Mr Albanese will commit to setting staffing numbers through an independent body, rather than having them awarded at the discretion of the Prime Minister of the day.

Mr Albanese dodged the question. He goes back to how many staff the crossbench received under Prime Minister Scott Morrison (before Ms Scamps was in office), and says it was twice as many as members of the Liberal and Labor parties received (yes, but the government and opposition received their own separate pool of staff – so he’s not comparing like with like.)

Mr Albanese also said that the Coalition didn’t vote for the FOI Bill “much to their shame”, without denying that he – unsuccessfully – tried to use the offer of personal staff as an inducement.  

The Prime Minister has been arbitrary in how he allocates staff to the Opposition and crossbench. The Australia Institute’s Democracy Agenda for the 48th Parliament recommends setting these staffing allowances independently.

But it’s particularly worrying if Mr Albanese is dangling the promise of more resources in front of the Opposition, in order to change their voting behaviour. That is not appropriate use of public money.  

University of Canberra vice-chancellor Bill Shorten is proposing a 1 per cent levy on corporate business profits to create a Sovereign Wealth Education Fund. This fund would then help fund universities.

This is broadly a good idea…

Shorten’s proposal would essentially be a small increase in company tax to fund more spending on universities and students, but with extra steps. This is broadly a good idea. As Australia Institute research shows, public spending on higher education is at historically low levels.

Australia’s universities are also unusually reliant on private sources of funding, such as student fees, encouraging universities to focus on maximising private source revenue at the expense of teaching and research. However, the sector’s issues aren’t only about money.

… but we also need to fix governance

Australian universities need fixing, not just a funding boost. The sector is engulfed in scandals, from excessive pay for management, to wage underpayments, to huge spending on things like consultants, travel and advertising.

These issues don’t just come from underfunding; they stem from how universities are structured and regulated. Most importantly, the management of universities needs to become accountable to students, staff and the public at large. Without fixing the sector’s governance issues, additional public money is at risk of being mismanaged, undermining the public confidence necessary to maintain higher levels of public funding.

The Prime Minister calls it.

Here’s how Mike Bowers saw Question Time.

Independent Member for Mackellar, Dr Sophie Scamps:

To avoid perceived conflict of interest, will the Prime Minister commit to ensuring personal staff allocations (come) from independent body, rather than awarded at the discretion of the Prime Minister of the day?

Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese:

The number of representations that I have had from crossbenchers in the House and in the Senate isn’t about health policy, it isn’t about housing policy, it’s about their staff.

Independent Member for Mackellar, Dr Sophie Scamps goes again:

Was personal staff used as a way to encourage the Coalition to support the Freedom of Information Bill?

Prime Minsiter, Anthony Albanese:

Well, they didn’t, much to their shame because this is area that needs reform.

Things are getting ratty.

Speaker Milton Dick has now issued a general warning.

He’s swatting away points of order like flies in the outback.

Nationals MP Pat Conaghan and Liberal Ben Small have already been given the heave-ho from the chamber. Lucky them.

It sounds like a school classroom.

Hilariously, the Estonian Foreign Minister Margus Tsahkna is in the public gallery, as a guest of the Speaker. With more than a hint of irony, the Speaker says:

I promised the Foreign Minister today he would witness democracy in action … and here you are.

And …

Labor’s Basem Abdo has also been kicked out. For the second time this week, no less. He lasted about ten minutes on Tuesday.

Question of the week goes to the Independent Member for Kooyong, Dr Monique Ryan:

My question is for the Treasurer: when Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, Woodside doubled its profits. The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax fails to capture profits from conflicts like those Ukraine and Iran. In a cost-of-living crisis, will you impose a windfall tax on the excess, to that Australians can feel confident that we will receive a fair return on our finite resources?

Treasurer, Jim Chalmers:

I do know and acknowledge there are a range of views sorts of issues that member has raised. For our part, this government, we’ve already made some changes to the PRRT, which will ensure that Australians collect more tax, sooner, from the export of offshore gas. And we made those changes because we know that there is an expectation in the Australian community that those who pay the PRRT, need to pay their fair share of tax. The changes we made means dollars sooner to help fund the government’s priorities, in areas like Medicare and housing and all of the important objectives that the Honorable member for Kooyong. And so those are the steps that we have taken. We’ve taken those steps. That’s not often acknowledged when people call for more to be done. We acknowledge and respect those calls to do more but we’ve already acted in a fairly substantial way.

I’m calling BS on that answer. I don’t have time to attach the dozens and dozens of reports which prove beyond any doubt that the PRRT is one of the most ineffective taxes in Australia’s history. The mining companies are laughing at us. The world is laughing at us. Big Gas is taking the piss out of every Australian family struggling at the moment.

The opposition clearly think they’ve struck gold with Energy Minister using the word “crisis” in an earlier answer.

They go again.

Nationals MP Sam Birrell asks:

Minister, are we in a crisis?

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen:

It may have escaped members opposite, but there’s a war going on. Do I regard a war as a crisis? Yes, I do.

If a farmer can’t get fuel, is it a crisis for that farmer? Yes.

Do I think if a fishing company can’t get access to diesel for that fishing, do I think it’s a crisis? Yes, I do.

Last Friday, the Labor government announced a $115 million investment to increase capacity in aged care facilities in key hotspots including Adelaide, Perth, and the Illawarra and Hunter regions.  

But this is well short of what is required to fix a system broken by decades of neglect—a reality laid bare by the 2021 Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety.  

In a 2021 report from the Australia Institute and the Centre for Future Work projected that the Australian government would need to invest an additional $10 billion per year to deliver the quality of life our elders deserve. 

While any increase in funding is a step forward, last week’s small incremental investment is a drop in the ocean compared to the scale of the national crisis. Australia’s aged care sector is crippled by significant bed shortages.  

Older Australians remain stuck in hospital wards because there are simply no nursing home beds available to receive them. There are 3,000 older Australians waiting in hospitals for beds to become available. And only 800 beds delivered in 2024-25. This has triggered a dangerous domino effect that is paralysing the broader healthcare system and costing millions.

This bottleneck doesn’t just impact older Australians; it drains hospital department resources and delays care for those who need it. 

The current investment gap is significant, but not an impossible one to bridge.  

Australia Institute research consistently shows that the Commonwealth could easily generate the money needed by company tax and closing tax loopholes. For example, the Australian Council of Trade Unions estimates a 25% tax on gas exports could generate $17 billion, which is more than enough to cover the $10 billion needed to transform the aged care sector. 

Angus Taylor asks Prime Minister Anthony Albanese if there’s a crisis, referring to Chris Bowen‘s previous answer, where he used the word “crisis”.

“There’s a war on!” says the PM before adding the coalition is “barely an opposition“.

Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, knew he’d be bombarded with questions about fuel security, just as he was yesterday.

His backside had barely hit the green leather after his answer in Question Time when his office released his answer, in full, in the form of a media release.

Here it is:

The Government’s focus is ensuring our fuel gets to where it needs to go.

In order to assist with getting more supply, and secure downwards pressure on prices, I am temporarily amending Australia’s fuel quality standards to allow higher sulfur levels for the next 60 days.

This will allow around 100 million litres a month of new petrol supply that would otherwise have been exported to be blended instead into Australian domestic supply.

In return, Ampol Australia has committed to ensure this redirected supply will be prioritised for regions of shortage and for the wholesale spot market that supports independent distributors and harvesters.

While Australian fuel consumption has not changed, this will help relieve pressure on distribution chains disrupted by elevated demand.
The Government has been unequivocal – this additional supply must help the people who need it, including farmers, fishers and regional communities.

I can also confirm that the National Coordination Mechanism will continue to convene to respond to emerging fuel supply chain issues.

By bringing together all levels of Government, the National Coordination Mechanism will work together on supply chain issues, bottlenecks and help facilitate action across Australia.

This builds on a suite of measures we have already taken to secure supply and put downwards pressure on fuel prices. We will continue to take further actions as necessary.

Overnight, the International Energy Agency, of which Australia has been a member country since 1979, agreed to a voluntary collective action to address disruptions in oil markets stemming from the war in the Middle East.

This means member countries are encouraged to release fuel in a coordinated way – which helps to calm the global oil market.

Australia, like all IEA member countries, has endorsed a global collective action. Global collective action to relieve pressure and will support our work at home.

Australia is finalising its contribution, which would then be released directly to the Australian market.

This is a voluntary action – what contribution Australia makes will be decided in our national interest.

We continue to see expected ships arrive in our ports, and we continue to act to relieve the distribution pressure we are seeing in our regions.

It is clear, there will be supply impacts if this war continues – this is the world acting to mitigate those impacts. We will always act in Australia’s best interests.

We are clearly going to get a million questions about fuel shortages.

I won’t be wasting my time – or yours – and sharing them all here.

Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy:

We currently 36 days of petrol supply on hand, 29 days of jet fuel, 32 for diesel.

Our fuel stocks remain very strong. 

Today, I have decided to relax the requirements under the Fuel Quality Act, Mr Speaker, when it comes to sulphur content on a temporary, million litres of fuel extra flow in Australia a month over that time. 

This willenable that supply to be blended into and will see extra of fuel for the assurance from regional Australia and for the spot market to regional pressure.

Angus Taylor, Opposition Leader:

On the ABC this morning, the Minister for Resources twice refused to guarantee that Australia won’t run out of fuel as a result of the ongoing Iran war. Prime Minister, was the Minister for Resources correct in refusing this guarantee?

Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister:

The government is looking at every practical measure required to our nation and household budgets from the worst of uncertain, ensuring that our farmers, our regional communities, and the services all Australians rely on can continue to access the see ships arrive carrying fuel in the quantities and frequencies we expect. The longer the conflict in the Middle East goes on, obviously the more significant the impact will be.

20% of the world’s oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz. And if that shipping route remains effectively closed, then that will have ongoing consequences for fuel prices, production, supply chains, and, of course, an inflationary impact right around the world. Overnight, the International Energy Agency has said the challenge facing the world oil market is unprecedented in scale, which is why of 400 million barrels of oil largest-ever collective action. Australia is carefully considering our next steps in response IEA announcement.

There’s an interesting story in The Australian headlined “Why Iranian city may decide Farrer”.

Buckle up, this piece deserves its own trivia night.

First, there’s a city in Iran called Ramsar, which is best known internationally as where the 1971 Ramsar Convention on Wetlands of International Importance was signed. It’s the key global treaty on conservation of migratory birds and their habitat.

Let’s jump to the 1901 Australian Constitution. The Commonwealth only has the power to manage water in the Murray Darling Basin because of international conventions it’s signed up to, mainly Ramsar. Otherwise, water is all the responsibility of the states and the Commonwealth can’t buy ($$$) any of it.

Now back to the present day. The One Nation candidate in Farrer wants to “suspend” Australia’s membership of the Ramsar Convention but does not want to “do a Donald Trump and abandon the treaty”.

The half-in-half-out idea seems to work like this. Stay half in so that cotton farmers can keep getting huge amounts of Commonwealth money. But get half out so that the same cotton farms can keep screwing our rivers.

This starts to make sense when you realise that the One Nation candidate David Farley is a former northern Basin cotton irrigator. Barnaby Joyce, now also with One Nation, oversaw much of the shenanigans around water management and purchases that favoured the northern Basin cotton irrigators.

But!!! Farrer is in the southern Basin. It is the irrigators of the southern Basin, specifically the lower Darling/Baaka and the NSW Murray, who were screwed over by Joyce and northern cotton.

The water politics in Farrer could be about to get pretty volatile.

I’m sad to report that David Pocock’s proposed Parliamentary inquiry into ‘Why Gas Companies Pay Less for Offshore Liquefied Natural Gas than Australians Pay in Beer Excise’ was blocked in the Senate just now.

But how did it all go down? Well, there are some interesting lessons we can take from the vote…

Labor voted against the inquiry, while the Greens, independents and One Nation voted for it. That left the Coalition in the box seat. Would they support the motion and give Australians an opportunity to analyse the multinational gas companies that are ripping us off? In the end, they didn’t even show up.

At its core, Pocock’s gas inquiry was a test: are you with the gas giants, or with the public?

The Greens, independents, and even One Nation voted for it. They all understood that it’s basic, good policy to scrutinise a failed gas tax regime.

For the Nationals’ new leader, Matt Canavan, this was his first big leadership exam. He talks tough about taking on One Nation, yet when the crunch vote came, the Nationals didn’t even show up.

He had the perfect chance to prove he’d stand up to the gas giants. Instead, he squibbed it.

This is the record of the vote:

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A post shared by Ed Husic MP (@edhusicmp)

Another dumb, terrible war, another hit at the petrol bowser for Aus motorists. Governments scrambling.

At the start of the Ukraine war, the International Energy Agency (IEA) published A 10-point plan to cut oil use, which it estimated could cut

oil demand by 2.75 million barrels a day (bbl/d) in “advanced economies” within four months.

Let’s see how Australia is faring on that 10 point plan, four years on. We scored it at zero in late 2024.

1. Reduce speed limits on highways by at least 10 km/h – X
2. Make public transport cheaper; incentivise micro-mobility, walking and cycling – X…maybe the Vic and Qld Govs can claim a point here.
3. Car-free Sundays in large cities – X
4. Work from home up to three days a week where possible – WfH is definitely a thing in Aus, with Vic pushing furthest, but not because of fuel security.
5. Alternate private car use in large cities – X
6. Urge car sharing and practices that decrease fuel use – X
7. Promote efficient use of freight trucks and goods delivery – X
8. Hasten adoption of electric and more efficient vehicles – X I don’t think the govs fuel efficiency standards policy rates a point here, given our addiction to big dumb utes.
9. Avoid business travel when alternatives exist – X
10. Prefer high-speed and night trains to planes where possible – X

I’d argue it’s another zero. No Australian Government has taken serious action to reduce fuel use and improve fuel security.

And now we will all pay the price.

In 2015, the then Liberal federal government established the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF) to provide long-term, sustainable investment in health and medical research. But 10 years on, the Labor government is accused of withholding millions from being distributed. 

In 2026-27, the MRFF is worth $24.7 billion. But only $650 million will be allocated to researchers. This is despite the MRFF board saying that $1 billion could be released.  

That’s millions of dollars not being used to support life-saving medical research. This is money that could be used to help Australia prepare for climate shocks, pandemics and other problems.  

The Association of Australian Medical Research Institutes warns that, without Commonwealth intervention, some research institutes will run out of money within a decade.  

Meanwhile, the CSIRO — which has made notable inventions including Wi-Fi, plastic bank notes, and the Hendra vaccine — cut 350 jobs last year, on top of 800 positions in the two years before. This is the workforce that generates the science, therapies, and technologies that help Australia prosper.  

Independent MP Monique Ryan and more than 7,000 scientists and researchers are urging the Labor government to unlock the remaining pool of the MRFF. 

Investment in the CSIRO, medical research institutes, and the research workforce is an investment in a stronger, more resilient Australia. The underfunding of medical research could leave Australia bereft of the research capability needed to tackle the challenges of an uncertain future.  

Some of Australia’s private schools are requesting children’s Naplan scores as part of their admission assessment. Naplan chief, Stephen Gniel, has called this a “horrendous misuse” of the testing system. Parents, meanwhile, are reportedly hiring tutors to help their children perform better on Naplan.

Naplan – the National Assessment Program Literacy and Numeracy – is an annual test of Year 3, 5, 7 and 9 students. The one-off test is a snapshot, designed to be a tool for teachers, parents and policymakers. It’s not meant as an entrance exam or an assessment of a child’s skills or aptitude.

The private school lobby has defended using Naplan results for admissions, saying it’s ‘just one consideration’ of enrolment.

This issue illustrates why Australia has one of the most segregated education systems in the world. Children whose parents can afford private tuition gain an advantage, which private schools then use to select students – serving to entrench the link between economic disadvantage and educational outcomes.

Research shows that the key determinant of student achievement is the circumstances they were born into.

Last year’s Naplan results showed little or no improvement with swathes of children – mostly from disadvantaged backgrounds – struggling with the basics of learning and nearly one-third of students playing catch-up in reading, writing, spelling and maths.

As shown  below, long-term trends from the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), which compares 15-year olds’ performance in reading, maths and science across developed countries, show a decline in Australian results. Which begs the question as to how much our highly privatised education system is actually helping kids learn…

After a couple of radio interviews which focused on him being “overpaid” or “surplus to requirements”, former ASIO chief Dennis Richardson explains the very simple reason for his decision to walk away from the Royal Commission into Antisemitism, called in the wake of the Bondi shootings, after he’d already been asked to conduct an independent inquiry.

Mike Bowers caught him in the corridor of Parliament House.

Video by Mike Bowers.

Statement from Greens Deputy Leader, Mehreen Faruqi:

Senators Mehreen Faruqi, Senator Lidia Thorpe and Senator Fatima Payman have written to
President Sue Lines calling for urgent action to address racism in the Senate and ensure
Parliament is a safe workplace for women of colour.

In a joint letter, the Senators outline a pattern of racism, both overt and insidious, within the
Senate chamber. They warn that standing orders and procedural rules are increasingly being
used to silence those who call out racism, with other Senators often drawing a false equivalence
between those calling out racism and racist behaviour itself.

The letter documents a series of incidents, including personal insults directed at the Senators,
racist comments going unchecked in debates, and instances where Senators attempting to call
out racism were reprimanded or silenced.

Such behaviour would not be tolerated in any other workplace. Failing to address racism within
Parliament undermines its integrity and discourages women of colour from participating in
public life.

Senators Faruqi, Thorpe and Payman are calling on the President of the Senate to take
immediate steps to address racism in the Chamber and in Parliament, including reviewing the
way standing orders are applied and introducing mandatory anti-racism and cultural safety
training for all parliamentarians.

It’s an exciting and perhaps nervous day for beer drinkers and gas exporters across the country. ACT Senator David Pocock will today move a motion in Parliament to establish a Senate inquiry into why natural gas exporters pay less tax than beer drinkers. A big step in the right direction to stop Big Gas taking the piss.

 As the viral video shows, in a Senate estimates hearing, a nervous-looking Treasury official confirmed that natural gas exporters will pay just $1.5 billion in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) in 2025-26. In comparison, beer drinkers will pay $2.7 billion in beer excise while sipping the most expensive beer in the world. Fair shake of the gas bottle.

The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax is the Australian Government tax that is meant to generate a financial return to taxpayers from the predominately foreign‑owned gas companies extracting Australian gas to make liquefied natural gas (LNG) for export on huge, refrigerated ships. Each of these ships holds around 170,000 million litres of LNG, the equivalent to around 3.4 million kegs of beer.

Recent spikes in LNG prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which are set to continue with the US-Israeli war on Iran, means that the gas exporters have made huge windfall profits. These windfall profits are estimated to be between $96 billion and $112 billion since 2022. To make matters worse, 56% of the natural gas for those exports is given away royalty-free.

Recent reforms to the PRRT were meant to capture some of this windfall for Australians, the owners of the natural gas. Instead, PRRT revenue is projected to fall.

While the fossil fuel lobby groups might suggest the solution is easy (just cut the beer excise), there is another way. Clive Palmer has joined the call for a 25% tax on gas exports, along with the union movement, all crossbench and minor-party MPs, a growing number of social media influencers, and the Australian people as is clear from polling. The time is right for an inquiry into how to ensure the gas industry pays its fair share.

In his first press conference as Nationals leader, Matt Canavan criticised Pauline Hanson for“comments dividing Australians and different groups, suggesting there are no good people in certain groups of Australians”. It was a welcome retort to Senator Hanson’s Islamophobic comments.

In response, Senator Hanson accused Senator Canavan of joining “the woke pile-on” against One Nation, alongside “the ABC, The Guardian and left-wing fact checkers”.

If you had any doubt that “woke” just means “people I disagree with”, here is the confirmation – Matt Canavan is woke now.

It’s ironic because Senator Canavan has been among the worst offenders when it comes to calling people woke.

He accused the UK (and Australian) monarchy of being woke because Queen Elizabeth II gently criticised world leaders for being all talk, no action on climate change.

But it’s not just the monarchy – “every other corporation” “has gone woke too”.

After The Wiggles employed an Indigenous Australian woman and performers with Filipino and Ethiopian heritage, Senator Canavan said The Wiggles “was nice while it lasted. But you go woke, you go broke”.

But as The Australia Institute has shown, most Australians either don’t know what “woke” means or think it’s a positive thing.  

Instead of going broke, the Wiggles’ earnings tripled between 2023 and 2025.

The Nationals will be hoping that, now they are woke too, they can enjoy even a fraction of the Wiggles’ success.

Nine newspapers have reported about a crisis at the cardiothoracic surgery unit of Perth’s Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. The underlying concern is the lack of senior surgeons that can take on the most complex cases and supervise trainees.

The article describes the lengths hospital management is going to in trying to recruit senior clinical staff. But the fact is there are plenty of senior surgeons, it’s just that most of them prefer to work in the private sector where they can charge what the market will bear. Public hospitals simply can’t compete with what specialists make in the private system.

That would be okay if the private sector pulled its weight in terms of taking on complex cases and training. 

But it doesn’t. Most private hospitals lack the facilities to take on the hard cases, preferring to manage less complex, high-revenue activity, while some specialists seem to be intervening based not on patients’ medical need but on whether they are in a private hospital.

The Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital story highlights the furphy of the private sector “taking pressure off public hospitals”. The opposite is more likely. That’s mainly because there’s a limited number of surgeons and a large amount of need – meaning that for every private patient a public patient misses out. But it’s also because too much low-value activity – interventions that cost a lot but don’t generate that much benefit to the patient – takes place in the private sector.

The combined effect is a lot of unmet health need and a lot of people having to wait for their surgery because they can’t afford to pay.

The problem is a complex one. But calling time on the fiction that the private sector props up public hospitals would be a good start. 

A significant speech was delivered in the Parliament late last night.

The Labor member for Chifley, Ed Husic, deserves credit for saying something that needs to be said: Australia’s gas industry should be paying its fair share. His intervention puts common sense squarely on the table – ordinary Australians, not multinational gas giants, deserve to benefit from the nation’s natural resources.

Husic is the first government MP to take such a clear stand on this important issue. This debate puts pressure on the major parties’ determination to prioritise the interests of the gas industry over regular Australians.

Here are some selected highlights from the speech:

With so much gas in this country, we don’t have a shortage of supply, we have a glut of greed.

We may be told that supply is limited because so much gas is locked in, under long‑term contracts. But this argument ignores a crucial fact: according to the Australia Institute, around 30% of all gas exported from Australia is not needed to meet contract commitments. That surplus is instead sold on the spot market for higher profit. This ‘excess’ capacity dramatically exceeds any domestic supply risk.

These facts will stun Australians. And the facts point to the reality that this is a broken market. The only winners are profiteers. Australian politics has got to acknowledge the red hot anger that exists about the greed of gas companies, felt by voters of all political persuasions.

I also reckon we have to seriously consider the proposal to tax gas exports. Australians are rightly angry that most exported gas attracts zero royalties and that the economic return from this national resource is disproportionately captured by foreign shareholders. Advocates of this proposal believe it can protect uncontracted gas from being shipped off in the blink of an eye by gas firms, prioritising supply to Australians. It also has the potential to raise billions in revenue annually for the government.

“We can’t be timid, we can’t be meagre about our national interest. These are our resources, our gas at our prices.”

Hear, hear!

Over the past four years fossil fuel subsidies have been growing more rapidly than spending on the NDIS. While politicians and pundits like claim that spending on the NDIS is exploding, you will hear less concern about the rapid growth of fossil fuel subsidies.

Over the last four years spending on the NDIS has grown 43%. This is less than the growth over the same period of fossil fuels, which grew 47%.

Spending on the NDIS provides support and dignity to the disabled, while making their lives better. Fossil fuel subsidies just delay the transition to a low carbon economy, while helping fuel dangerous climate change that makes all our lives worse.

Stopping fossil fuel subsidies is the easiest and cheapest way to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, it doesn’t cost money, it saves money. Australian government’s should scrap fossil fuel subsidies and focus on supplying high quality social services like the NDIS.

The Australian government has been trying to placate Donald Trump in order to secure the AUKUS submarine deal – and now we are seeing the results.

On this episode of Follow the Money and After America, Dr Emma Shortis and Ebony Bennett discuss the illegal US-Israel war in Iran, the implications of the conflict for the Middle East, and why Australian personnel were on board an American nuclear-powered submarine when it sank an Iranian warship.

Victorian Greens Senator, Steph Hodgins-May, has proposed an amendment to Pauline Hanson’s gas proposal:

Amendment to Senator Hanson’s motion by leave
Omit paragraph (b), substitute:
(b) calls on the Government to subject all gas production to a minimum
25% gas export tax.

In the leadup to the May budget, reporting in the AFR shows leading Australian economists, including former Deloitte partner Chris Richardson and former head of the ACCC Rob Simms, are calling for big increases in tax on the gas industry in the light of rising gas prices caused by the Iran war.

Both are scathing of current arrangements.

Chris Richardson said:

Yet again, there will be a spike in national income thanks to gas earnings and yet again, Australia will receive a woefully inadequate share of it. It is an important reminder that generations of Australian politicians have failed to get our taxing of gas right.

Rob Simms said:

When you get a horrible situation like this, which just happens to boost the coffers of world’s biggest companies, and the gains don’t even come to the Australian people, that is a great shame. I don’t think [the benefit to the budget] is going to be that big at all.

Challenger Chief Economist Johnathan Kearns said,

Australia is a net energy exporter, however it will not benefit from this energy price shock.

Even the RBA deputy governor Andrew Hauser has acknowledged that taxes on gas companies are “not a huge share of total government receipts”.

The petroleum resource rent tax (PRRT) is meant to ensure a return for Australians from windfall “super-profits,” gas companies receive from the export of our gas resources, particularly during periods of high oil and gas prices as has happened during the Ukraine War and the current war in Iran. However it captured virtually none of the $100 billion windfall profits going to global gas giants exporting Australia’s gas following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, because astonishingly, as of 2023 no gas exporter had ever paid PRRT, despite the tax being in place for over three decades.

Australia allows the export of over 80% of its gas production and is one of the largest gas exporters in the world. Yet Australian students pay more in HECs repayments than the gas industry pays in PRRT. The Australian beer excise also raises more than the PRRT. The government made changes to the PRRT in 2023, but they have had little effect.

The Superpower Institute chaired by Rod Simms has proposed a 40% tax on the cash flows of oil and gas companies, which it says would raise $18.6 billion in additional revenue. This proposal joins the proposal for a 25% tax on gas exports that would raise around $17 billion annually proposed by the ACTU, and supported by David Pocock, the Greens, The Australia Institute and others.

One Nation has proposed imposing royalties on all gas production which would raise $13 billion annually. Australia Institute research has shown the Australian government does not impose royalties on over half the gas exported from Australia, effectively giving the gas a way for free. The Australia Institute also supports imposing royalties on the gas industry.

Australia Institute polling has shown strong public support across the political spectrum for a 25% tax on the gas exports, including in the seat of Farrer where 75% of voters support a 25% tax on gas exporters. It would be deeply ironic if the Australian government chose to accept the forecast budget deficit for the May budget, while letting massive windfall gains flow to the gas industry without benefiting Australians.

Last Thursday morning, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor took his Deputy, Jane Hume, and Shadow Treasurer Tim Wilson to a fancy supermarket.

This week, he’s taken his new bestie Matt Canavan and Shadow Industry Minister Andrew Hastie on a little outing to a steel fabrication workshop.

Mike Bowers was there.

Pauline Hanson is trying to force the Senate to debate her Private Senator’s Bill to introduce a levy on gas production and create a domestic gas reserve.

Her attempt to suspend standing orders was voted down, which then prompted a huge spray from the One Nation leader about Australia’s failure to tax gas exports adequately and keep Australian gas in the country for Australian use.

Here are the highlights:

We’ve got a gas here, plenty of gas, but we’re denied the use of the gas.

The gas is abundant in this country.

I’ve tried to look after the Australian people by using our gas here.

The Australian people are destitute out there, our farmers, our business, our truckies, everyone is desperate at the moment.

To see that Qatar exports … about the same amount (of gas) and they make 26 billion a year.

We make next to nothing.

We’re selling it cheaper overseas.

It’s actually madness.

I’ve now listened to two radio interviews with former ASIO chief Dennis Richardson about his decision to leave his role with the Antisemitism Royal Commission, set up in the wake of the Bondi shootings.

In these situations, of course, there’s always a “story behind the story”, with Richardson referencing his salary (“I was being paid wasn’t consistent with the work I was doing”) and suggestions he was surplus to requirements.

For what it’s worth, my take is that he’s a victim of the government being forced to set up a Commonwealth Royal Commission after he’d already been hired to conduct an independent review.

He had started work on a review when, after an immense political campaign, the federal government caved in and set up a royal commission (keeping in mind NSW had already announced a royal commission).

So, instead of completing the project he was asked to conduct, he’s suddenly a “special advisor” to a different inquiry.

He gave it a shot, decided it wasn’t working, and chose to leave.

He’s still backing the royal commission and commissioner Virginia Bell’s work.

I don’t see a controversy here.

The Guardian has an excellent story about the new fossil fuel subsidy data:

Read the full story here.

Independent ACT Senator David Pocock’s push for a parliamentary inquiry into Australia’s broken gas tax system hit a brief snag when the vote to establish it was delayed earlier this week. Will it be voted on today?

The motion was originally due to be considered by the Senate on Tuesday but was pushed back 48 hours and is now scheduled to be voted on around midday today. This has set the stage for a major test of whether Labor and the Coalition will support scrutiny of Australia’s “great gas giveaway.”

Senator Pocock is simply asking for a fresh examination of how little Australia earns from the exporting of its gas resources. His proposed inquiry would explore why multinational gas companies are paying so little, and what reforms could ensure the public gets a fair return for resources that belong to all Australians.

Australia Institute research has shown that Australia collects far less revenue from gas exports than comparable resource-rich nations. Despite record profits, gas corporations continue to take advantage of generous deductions and loopholes in the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, leaving billions of dollars in potential public revenue on the table. That’s money that could be invested in housing, health, and the clean energy transition.

Momentum for reform continues to build. Support for a stronger tax on gas exports, along the lines of a 25% flat tax as proposed by the ACTU, now spans the political spectrum, from the union movement and the Greens to One Nation and even figures like Clive Palmer, who recently threw his backing behind the idea.

With such broad agreement emerging, all eyes will be on the Senate today.

Will Labor and the Coalition side with the public and allow greater transparency on the gas industry’s tax arrangements?

Or will they once again vote to protect an obviously broken system from scrutiny?

This is a particularly salient test for Senator Matt Canavan, who was elevated to the Nationals leadership yesterday, reportedly to counter One Nation’s surging support. If the Coalition really want to challenge One Nation’s populist political approach, the only way they can do that is with popular, practical policy. Matching, or exceeding, One Nation’s commitment to adequately tax gas exports is an easy and obvious starting point.

Will Canavan be up to the task? We’ll have an indication soon.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers and Resources Minister Madeleine King are both doing the rounds this morning, welcoming the International Energy Agency’s (of which Australia is one of 32 member states) decision to release 400 million barrels of oil to ease global fuel prices.

Chalmers:

I can assure people that we have enough fuel in total and where there are issues in particular regional areas or different pockets of Australia, we work closely with the industry and the ACCC to try and ensure supply.

King:

What we have in the billions of litres of fuel that the government has under its minimum stockholding obligation is more than sufficient for this nation. Shipments of fuel are arriving as scheduled.

Both say the longer the conflict in the Middle East goes, the more likely there will be future issues with fuel prices and storage holdings.

Interestingly, since the IAE announced the record oil release, the price of Brent Crude has continued to rise.

The International Energy Agency has agreed to release 400 million barrels of ‌oil, the largest such move in its history, to try to rein in soaring crude prices.

The IEA said ‌the release had been backed unanimously by 32 member countries, including Australia, in its sixth such move since it was created in the 1970s.

It is aimed at preventing a further rise in ‌oil prices on fears that Iranian attacks will continue to block Middle East oil exports from reaching markets.

“The oil market challenges we are facing are unprecedented in scale. Therefore I am very glad that IEA member countries have responded with an emergency collective action of unprecedented size,” IEA executive director Fatih Birol said.

The Paris-based IEA made its comments as French President Emmanuel Macron chaired a meeting of G7 leaders to discuss the issue.

“The emergency stocks will be made available to the market over a time frame that is appropriate to the ‌national circumstances of each member ‌country,” the IEA said, ⁠adding this would be “supplemented by additional emergency measures by some countries”.

US President Donald Trump, who launched attacks on Iran alongside Israel ​on February 28, was shown at the end of a video of the G7 meeting chaired by Macron saying: “I think we are having a tremendous impact on the world”.

Yet oil prices rebounded on Wednesday (US time) as markets doubted whether the IEA’s plan could offset the volumes of oil blocked by the conflict.

Analysts have said the pace of daily IEA stock releases would matter as much as, if not more, than the overall size.

If 100 million barrels were released over the next month, that would be about 3.3 million barrels ⁠a day – a fraction of the current disruption of about 20 million barrels a day, with ‌the Strait of ​Hormuz between Iran and Oman effectively blocked.

In 2022, IEA member countries released 182.7 million barrels of oil and oil products in two stages,  then the largest ‌in IEA history, when Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine.

“Pressure came mainly from the US government, which wants this release,” a European Union diplomat had said ahead of the IEA statement.

In the G7 video, Trump said he agreed with the IEA decision.

US Interior Secretary Doug Burgum had welcomed initial reports of the planned release of oil reserves, while telling Fox News that he did not believe the world faced an energy shortage.

“We’ve got a transit problem, ​which ​is temporary,” he said.

“You have a temporary transit problem that we’re ​resolving militarily and diplomatically, which we can resolve and will resolve.”

G7 member Japan ‌said it planned to release about 80 million barrels from its private and state oil reserves as its contribution.

“Rather than wait for formal IEA approval of a coo-rdinated international reserve release, Japan will act first to ease global energy market supply and demand, releasing reserves as early as the 16th of this month,” Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi said.

Several countries co-ordinate their strategic oil stockpiles through the IEA, which was formed in 1974 after the oil crisis.

IEA members hold emergency stockpiles of more than 1.2 billion barrels, with ​another 600 million in industry stocks held under government obligation.

Three vessels have been hit by unknown projectiles in the Strait of Hormuz, maritime security agencies ‌and sources say, as one of the strikes led to a ‌fire onboard a ship and forced most of its crew to evacuate it.

The ‌Thailand-flagged bulk carrier Mayuree Naree was targeted on Wednesday and damaged about 20 kilometres north of Oman, two maritime security sources said.

The United Kingdom Maritime Trade Operations said later that the fire had been extinguished ‌and there was ⁠no environmental impact.

Necessary crew remained on the vessel.

Earlier, ​the Japan-flagged container ship One Majesty had sustained minor damage from an unknown projectile 46 kilometres north-west of Ras Al Khaimah in the United Arab Emirates, two maritime security sources said.

Its crew members were safe ⁠and the vessel was sailing towards a ‌safe ​anchorage, the sources said.

A third vessel, a bulk carrier, was also ​hit by an ‌unknown projectile about 80 kilometres north-west of Dubai, maritime security firms said.

The ​projectile had damaged the hull of the Marshall Islands-flagged Star Gwyneth, maritime risk management company Vanguard said, adding that the vessel’s crew ​were ​safe.

Traffic through the Strait ​of Hormuz, a key artery accounting for about ‌20 per cent of global oil and gas supply, has dropped rapidly since the Iran conflict began on February 28.

The latest incidents increase the number of ships that have been attacked since the conflict began to at ​least 14.

And here’s what’s gone out to journalists this morning:

Australian state and federal governments provided $16.3 billion in subsidies to fossil fuel producers and major users in 2025-26, according to new research from The Australia Institute.

That equates to $31,020 per minute, handed to some of the biggest, most profitable companies in Australia at a time when ordinary Australians are struggling with surging petrol and electricity prices.

Total subsidies to coal mines, gas companies and major diesel users was up 9.4% on the $14.9 billion recorded in 2024–25. By contrast, despite widespread suggestions that its growth is ‘unsustainable’, the cost of the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) increased by only 7.6% over the same period.

The biggest fossil fuel subsidy is the federal government’s Fuel Tax Credit Scheme, which cost $10.8 billion and mainly benefits multinational mining companies. The government’s own budget papers predict the cost of the scheme will increase more rapidly than federal spending on most social services, including disability assistance, childcare subsidies, aged care, and veterans’ care.

“Fossil fuel subsidies harm the budget and make climate change worse,” said Rod Campbell, Research Director at The Australia Institute.

“Cutting back subsidies like these, which make the community and the climate worse off, are an obvious priority for any government that says it is concerned with the budget bottom line, inequality, or climate change.

“The cost of fossil fuel subsidies is increasing rapidly, growing faster than spending on social services like disability and aged care.

“It makes no sense to be subsidising profitable multinational mining companies while short-changing Australia’s age pensioners and those living with disabilities.

“Australian governments have refused to crack down on fossil fuel subsidies, while complaining about the cost of looking after people.

“Change could be coming. Many influential groups are now calling for reform to the worst fossil fuel subsidies, including the ACTU, the chair of the Climate Change Authority, mining company Fortescue and Labor’s Environmental Action Network.

“The Australian government itself seems open to reform, joining the Belem Declaration on the Transition Away from Fossil Fuels at the last round of UN climate talks in Brazil. Under this declaration, governments recognise “the need to phase-out inefficient fossil fuel subsidies as soon as possible.”

“The Australia Institute has been calling for curbs on fossil fuel subsidies for over 20 years. Hopefully, this year’s report will be the last annual analysis of fossil fuel subsidies that finds another record level of assistance to the very activities that are making climate change worse.”

If you read one thing today, make it this.

This is Matt Grudnoff and Rod Campbell‘s full report on the $16.3 billion you and I pay to subsidies largely multi-national fossil fuel companies.

New data is out today which reveals Australian taxpayers are subsidising fossil fuel companies in Australia to the tune of $16.3 billion a year.

That’s more than $30,000 a minute in handouts or foregone revenue at a time when the nation’s health facilities are crumbling, public schools are desperately underfunded and the NDIS supposedly out of control.

The truth is, the cost of fossil fuel subsidies is growing faster than the cost of the NDIS.

Most of the subsidies are in the form of excise free diesel for huge, multi-national mining companies.

Not only does this cost taxpayers a fortune, but it’s hardly an incentive for these companies to reduce emissions.

Staying on the subject of fossil fuels, former Industry Minister Ed Husic has told Parliament it’s time to consider taxing gas exports, like the ACTU’s proposal for a 25% tax.

ACT Senator David Pocock’s call for a Parliamentary inquiry into why gas companies pay less tax than beer drinkers is up for debate today.

It’s all about fuel today, as the International Energy Agency approves the release of a record 400 million barrels of oil, the largest ever, to ease surging fuel prices.

A lot to get through on this final sitting day of the fortnight. My favourite soccer team is a goal down in Paris. My favourite footy team will probably lose tonight. So let’s make today a winner!