The latest Australian Taxation Office (ATO) Corporate Tax Transparency data shows INPEX’s two main entities operating in Australia paid no corporate income tax and no PRRT on $20.4 billion income in 2022-23.

This income is from the sale of gas exported from INPEX’s which exports around the same amount of gas as consumed in all of eastern Australia each year. The Australian Government charges INPEX no royalties for this gas, effectively giving them the gas for free.

Two other entities, INPEX Australia PTY LTD and INPEX ALPHA PTYT LTD paid $6.7 million corporate income tax, making up just 0.3% of the combined income of the four entities. The complex and opaque structure of INPEX’s Australian operations means there may be other entities operating in Australia, that have paid some corporate tax.

Despite this extraordinary situation, INPEX has complained loudly about Australian energy policy and this week the former INPEX general manager, Stuart Knowles, has been appointed as Northern Territory Coordinator, with powers to exempt controversial gas projects from environmental regulations.

It is extraordinary that a foreign owned company, making billions of dollars annually exporting Australia’s gas, paying virtually no corporate tax, PRRT or royalties is so outspoken about how we mange our resources and protect our environment. Governments are meant to represent the interests of Territorians and Australians, not foreign owned gas corporations.

The appointment of the former general manager of INPEX to a position where he can exempt gas projects from environmental regulations is a classic example of revolving door between industry and government that leads to corporate capture of our institutions.