Hanson lashes gas tax ‘vandalism’, reveals energy plan
· Michael West
One Nation leader Pauline Hanson has slammed calls for more regulations for the gas industry while labelling a campaign to impose a tax on exports as damaging.
Senator Hanson used a speech at the Australian Energy Producers Conference in Adelaide to outline plans to discount oil and gas exploration in a bid to increase Australia’s sovereign wealth.
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The policy, similar to that used in Norway, would include a 30 per cent rebate on oil and gas exploration in Australia.
In exchange, the Commonwealth would take a financial stake of up to 30 per cent in oil and gas projects, with profits directed into a sovereign wealth fund.
Under One Nation’s plan, a rebate for oil and gas projects would include a government stake. (Tom White/AAP PHOTOS)The government’s share of the gas and oil extracted would be directed into fertiliser, fuel refining and energy production.
The petroleum resource rent tax would be scrapped and replaced with a royalty scheme.
“This flexibility will maximise value for Australians while encouraging industry participation,” Senator Hanson said.
“One Nation would ensure the (wealth fund) board consists of only industry experts who have had success in the oil and gas industry, not government-appointed bureaucrats.”
The One Nation leader hit out at a campaign to impose a 25 per cent windfall tax on gas exports
“These activists simply want to destroy our gas industry and push their green agenda scam. It’s nothing more than economic vandalism,” she said.
Australians want a form of ownership in Australia’s resources projects, Barnaby Joyce says. (Lukas Coch/AAP PHOTOS)“The tax would apply to the total value of all gas exports and destroy the economics of the entire industry. That is their goal.”
One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said the party’s plan would allow the Australian people to become part-owners in the nation’s natural resources.
“That’s what the Australian people want. They want a form of ownership” he told reporters in Adelaide.
“This would be positive on the Australian balance sheet.”
But Resources Minister Madeleine King said Norway’s position was very different from Australia’s, given most of the east coast’s gas supply came from hydraulic fracturing and coal seam gas.
Norway has very few onshore gas resources.
The coalition aims to speed up project approvals for fossil-fuel drilling and scrap net-zero goals. (Joel Carrett/AAP PHOTOS)“For One Nation to cherry-pick parts of a system of another country … just speaks to their lack of knowledge of our gas system and, by the sounds of it, our political system as well,” she told reporters in Perth.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said he would not back any additional charges on the sector.
“I have only just seen the policy, but let me tell you, I don’t support putting more taxes on oil and gas, which I think is part of that policy,” he said.
But Senator Hanson said the plan would be centred on investment, not a “takeover” of the industry.
Earlier, in his own speech at the Adelaide conference, Mr Taylor called for the industry to be more vocal about government policies in the sector.
“You need to start making noise. You need to use every campaign tool at your disposal – especially social media. Push back against your detractors,” he said.
“We are going to have to fight like hell. That’s where we are at now.”
Mr Taylor, who wants all net-zero goals scrapped, used his budget reply speech earlier in May to call on the government to lift fuel baseline stockholding levels from 30 to 60 days.
He said the coalition would allow for smaller oil and gas companies to be incentivised to carry out explorations.
“Australia needs energy abundance. We must get busy digging and drilling, but we have a government that isn’t interested in these things,” he said.
The coalition would also establish an $800 million fuel security facility to boost storage capacity, with a focus on diesel.
He wants to speed up project approvals for drilling projects, particularly in Bass Strait.