Email,
This is moving faster than we expected.
Since I last wrote, the ABC has reported the government is now actively considering a new tax on gas exports.5 That's a big shift — but the gas lobby will push back hard to protect a system that lets them pay almost nothing.
So we need a strong show of public support right now, before decisions are locked in. Can you add your name today to call for gas corporations making billions to pay their fair share?
Here's the link: https://www.getup.org.au/make-gas-giants-pay
Thanks,
Conal
---------- Forwarded message ---------
From: Conal – GetUp <in...@getup.org.au>
Date: Tue, Mar 17, 2026
Subject: This global crisis has winners
Email,
The war in the Middle East is generating massive profits for corporations exporting Australian gas, while the rest of us foot the bill. It's time to end this rip-off – and I'm hoping you'll add your name to our campaign to do just that.
Global oil and gas prices are surging. For most of us, that means higher fuel and energy costs on top of an already brutal cost-of-living crisis. But for gas exporters, it means record-breaking profits. Santos is closing international deals at more than double the market rate from just weeks ago, with a single gas shipment now worth $70 million more than before1.
And these same corporations are paying next to nothing in tax.
The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) is designed to make them pay their fair share. But it's broken. It raised just $1.48 billion last year. That might sound like a lot – until you realise that gas corporations in Queensland alone made $36 billion in a single year, and paid ZERO company tax or PRRT.2 It's so bad that the ATO itself has labelled the oil and gas industry "systemic non-payers" of tax.
We pay our taxes. They make billions and pay almost nothing.
That's why economists, policy experts and unions are calling for a simple fix: replace the broken PRRT with a 25% tax on gas exports, so that when Australian gas is sold overseas, Australians actually benefit.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers has the power to fix this in the May budget. But the gas lobby will fight hard to protect a rip-off system that's making them billions.
If enough Australians speak up now, the government will know people are paying attention. Add your name to call on Treasurer Jim Chalmers to fix the broken gas tax.
We've seen this before. During the Ukraine war, gas exporters more than doubled their profits from Australian operations, making an eyewatering $92.8 billion in 2022. Australians paid record energy bills through all of it. A 25% gas export tax during that period alone would have captured an additional $23 billion in revenue.
The models exist. Norway taxes oil and gas at more than 50% and has built a sovereign wealth fund worth over a trillion dollars. Australia, one of the world's largest gas exporters, collects only a fraction of what comparable countries receive.
East coast gas prices have tripled since large-scale exports began3. A fair export levy would have raised around $17 billion last year4. Analysts estimate that could fund around 50,000 additional social and affordable homes, or deliver major investment in cheaper household energy. Instead, the current system lets gas corporations use accounting tricks and deductions to avoid paying much tax at all, while Australians watch energy bills rise and governments claim there isn't enough money to fund the things communities actually need.
Independent senator David Pocock has repeatedly highlighted the problem in parliament. Researchers at the Australia Institute and the ACTU have laid out the case for replacing the broken tax with a simple export levy. ACF and other environmental groups are also backing the call. Australia's gas is publicly owned. When it's exported overseas, Australians deserve a fair return.
But the government will only act if enough people make clear they're paying attention and expect change.
Australia's gas belongs to Australians. It's time the country finally got a fair return.
GetUp members have fought for a fairer Australia for twenty years – taking on powerful interests so that ordinary people, not corporations, shape our future. Holding gas giants accountable is part of that same fight: for an economy that works for everyone, and a climate that isn't sacrificed for corporate profit.
Thanks for being part of this,
Conal
References:
[1] 'Australian gas producers reap windfalls as Iran war chokes global supply', Australian Financial Review, 5 March 2026
[2] 'Gas companies export $36 billion of gas from Queensland, pay zero tax... again', The Australia Institute, November 2024
[3] 'The Export Effect', IEEFA, December 2024
[4] 'One Nation and Greens voters strongly support 25% Gas Export Tax', The Australia Institute, February 2026
[5] 'Prime minister's department requests modelling for gas and coal tax to shield Australia from impact of war', ABC News, March 2026
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