The truth about Australia’s gas shortage | ABC NEWS In-depth

Government price gouging tactics to support unreliable green energy is main culprit.

Australia's oil and gas industry is a significant contributor to the country's economy, but the current royalty and tax system has been criticized for favoring corporations over the public interest. Here's a breakdown of the situation:

# Current State of Royalties and Taxes
– *Royalty-free exports*: A staggering 56% of Australia's gas exports are royalty-free, resulting in a loss of billions of dollars in potential revenue. This means multinational corporations are essentially getting a public resource for free ¹.
– *Low tax rates*: The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) is a profits-based tax, but it's deductible from corporate tax, reducing its effectiveness. In contrast, Norway taxes its oil and gas profits at 78% ².
– *Record profits, low contributions*: In 2023, gas companies made $55 billion in profits, but payments to the government from the PRRT were lower than in 2001 ³.

# Potential Revenue for Public Services
If Australia were to implement a more equitable royalty and tax system, the potential revenue could significantly benefit public services:

– *Estimated revenue*: A fair return on gas resources could have generated at least $13.3 billion in revenue over the last four years.
– *Funding essential services*: This revenue could fund essential services like healthcare, education, and affordable housing, improving the lives of all Australians ¹.

# Path Forward
To achieve a more equitable system, the Australian government could consider the following:

– *Reform the PRRT*: Implement a more effective tax system, similar to Norway's, to ensure a fair return on Australia's resources.
– *Increase royalty rates*: Levy royalties on all gas exports to ensure the public receives a fair share of the revenue.
– *Invest in public services*: Allocate the generated revenue to fund essential services, ensuring all Australians have access to quality education, healthcare, and affordable housing.

Ultimately intelligence has just created a place for ignorance to flourish.

Finally the real media is taking it up. Not that I suggest channel 9 would run the same story 😂😂😂

Simple- Greed

Australia First！kick away those Left Wing Policy .

Australia watching Billions of dollars in Gas being shipped away for free, while complaining about raising costs, being told that there are shortages coming… No wonder the major parties that allow these games are not getting primary votes.

Sad for Australia

Net zero ,Paris Agreement and the Lima agreement is what's been designed to destroy Australia.

Vote 1 nation to end this nonsense..Pauline hasn't sold out like Labor and liberal

Meanwhile the government screws us with power bills when we should have cheap reliable energy …but no , got to endure the pain for the "green" agenda

Introduce a royalty/tax on exported gas. Require gas reservation from new gas fields. Don't let our steel, aluminium, and other essential industries go broke because of the government incompetence. Electing Labour or the LNP will not solve the problem.

Great explanation, thanks. What brilliant management of our resources by the LNP and ALP. And, they virtually give it away – no royalties to the people who own it, us Australians. Both parties are incompetent and corrupt in their handling of this. Vote them out this election. Vote Community Independents or Greens – they would never have allowed this to happen.

The graph at 4:31 shows that gas prices increased before Russia invaded Ukraine, and yet the ABC reporter still narrates that the gas price increase was caused by Russia's invasion of Ukraine. So whilst it's not an implausible hypothesis, the graph does not even demonstrate association let alone causation.

Victorians, forcing change then whinging about it when the country changes, The latest realisation, there's no gas… why? Forces banns to gas in new build remove your gas hot water, gas cooking is bad for your health etc etc etc, then wonder why companies sell it offshore vs internally. Yet they continually fail to understand that industry and power generation relies on gas to make everything from power to hamburgers at hungry jacks and they bought this on themselves.
Just like nuclear power, you think gas is expensive, nuclear , once paid off is ten times more expensive per kw hour than solar, wind and even gas power production. But hey, vote for the one who tells you itl save us money blindly like you always do australia.

The reporter complains that "Victoria's (gas) supply is falling fast" – it's merely "tailing away" (6:11). And yet there is no mention that this decline is a consequence of Victorian Government policies and anti-fossil fuel sentiment: (1) Gas exploration was banned 2012-2021; (2) Fracking remains banned; (3) Gas connections to new housing developments banned; (4) Predominance of climate-driven policy and sentiment; (5) Increased red tape for gas projects.

No rational investor would invest long-term fixed capital assets in such a high-risk sociopolitical environment. The reporter is merely complaining that gas companies don't simply gratuitously invest and produce for a people who say they don't want the producers or their product. Contrastingly, overseas investors are prepared to give long-term guarantees that they will buy the product of the long-term capital that is required for gas projects to be financially viable.

The ABC's energy narrative is just cultural socialist propaganda.

The Gas may be extracted from Australian territory, but it does not belong to Australia, it belongs to the foreign company that has been given the right mine, and sell it, of course Australia receives some royalties!

Both liberal and Labor let everything we get ripped off for happen benefited from these decisions personally , vote them out they will not change anything after election

Punter's Politics, look him up.

The answer is very simple.

This is madness on another level. All due to weak leadership

Australia exports via FOREIGN owned companies , the Eastern states need to follow the lead of WA

Bizarre?? That’s what our leaders are Bizarre & stupid!

What the hell is voter supposed to do?
We vote the government into power and they don’t serve us but leave us hanging.
We need accountable and accredited government.
The voter should be sick of these situations.
The voter domestically should be serviced FIRST.
ALBO has always been incompetent and won’t get back in.
Government should have transparency in its decisions even if decisions need advertised to voters,
There should be a watch dog for people on government.

The mainstream media have everything to answer for.
If advertisers pay for their lunch wouldn’t this be why we are in the position of?
If you sponsor a little kids sports team and are santos your just brainwashing the society.
Media are to blame show me the insensitive and ill show you the outcome

Australia never stood up and had a proper business plan. Our government has sold us out every time. I wonder how many people took a big backhander paid into a Swiss bank account along the way?

We don't export Gas as Australians our Government allows multinationals to steal our resources.

ONCE AGAIN AUSTRALIA'S INTEREST SOLD OFF FOR PROFIT, AND OUR GOVERNMENT PERMITTED IT FOR CHEAP SHORT TERM GAINS, "PATHETIC"

She'll be right – The term used to refer to a situation or object which is not perfect but is good enough to fulfil its purpose. WAKE UP GUYS its not right we are being ripped off

Shows you how dumb we are.

As a Victorian we wouldn't go back a decade to using gas when electricity (EV car included) is just so cheap in total !!!.

Nuclear power is the most eficient base Load power non poluting and eficient but there is a scare campaign against nuclear power

What would like to know how much tax and royalties these gas exporters are paying

So hapless Australians end up paying 4-5 times what the US consumers pay for gas. Massive inflation in Australia on energy, housing, health, education, food. Yet our official inflation rate is 4%? – what a joke.

– Don't sell all the gas.
– Charge royalties on the gas we export.
– Bank the funds to offset the bad times.
– Don't ever give stuff away for free.

Not reserving sufficient gas for domestic demand on the east coast is the crime of the century. Every tax payer and business is now suffering because of it

Gas is quite literally running out. Oil is doing the same. “Everything is fine”.