16th May 2024, 6:58 PM – Senate Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Accountability and Fairness) Bill 2023 - Second Reading - Gas and petroleum

The majority voted against an amendment to the usual second reading motion, which is "that the bill be read a second time" (parliamentary jargon for agreeing with the main idea of the bill).

Amendment text

Omit all the words after "That", substitute "The Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) in 2022, offshore gas exports were $92.8 billion,

(ii) to date, not a single cent of petroleum resources rent tax has been paid from the export of offshore liquefied natural gas,

(iii) Australians pay more HECS-HELP than gas companies pay in petroleum resources rent tax,

(iv) in 2020-21, Australian nurses paid three times as much tax as the gas industry paid in company tax,

(v) petroleum resources rent tax receipts have been revised down by $2.4 billion over the four years to 2026-27, effectively wiping off any benefit from the change proposed in Schedule 5, and

(vi) taxation of Australian gas is an issue that the Australian community expects to be the subject of Parliamentary scrutiny, including debate in the Senate;

(b) requires that further consideration of the bill be made an order of the day for the next sitting day and that the bill be considered in committee of the whole for not less than three hours".