How Australia helped Japan build a gas empire | Between the Lines
The Wrap with Amy Remeikis
In just a few short days the 48th Parliament will sit for the first time and we will start to see the answer to the question we have been asking become clear; what will Labor do with power?
In many ways, we already have the answer, at least when it comes to climate. The second term Albanese government wasted no time in approving the carbon bomb that is the Woodside North West Shelf extension and is tripling down on the delusion that more fossil fuel gas fields need to be opened up to service not just the domestic market, but to ensure the success of the Future Made in Australia manufacturing push.
Albanese made headlines in March by slipping in the line ‘delulul with no solulu’ during question time, as a tongue-in-cheek shout out to the hosts of the Happy Hour podcast, but it could also sum up Labor’s attitude to gas.
That was made clear in the Jubilee Australia Research Centre report: How to Build a Gas Empire, which was released this week and all but ignored by Australia’s mainstream media outlets.
The report, co-published with the Australian Conservation Foundation and the Fossil Free Japan Coalition lays out exactly how hollow many of the claims Australia is told about its gas industry are.
Japan and Korea have contributed $20.5bn USD of public finance into Australian LNG projects between 2008 and 2024.
Why? Well because Australian gas projects are helping to build Japan and South Korea’s own gas empire – despite having no gas themselves. While Australians are told that Australian gas is needed for Japan’s energy security (a claim amplified by Japan, Australian politicians and the gas industry who all scream SOVEREIGN RISK every time someone looks at one of these contracts) of the 39.4m tonnes loaded from Australian export projects by Japanese buyers between January 2023 and April 2025, almost 30% went to third countries.
In simple English, Japan takes more gas than it needs and then on-sells the extra to other countries. Japan has created its own gas industry out of Australia’s gas exports. Which of course means Japan (and South Korea, with financial incentives through ship building) are invested in Australia’s fossil fuel expansion – and in ensuring a pro-fossil fuel agenda continues to dominate Australian politics.
We are feeding an artificial demand for gas that is putting money in other countries’ treasuries, while barely getting anything other than growing emissions in return.
Six of Australia’s 10 LNG facilities don’t pay royalties. In 2023-24, Australians paid more than four times on HECS/HELP than gas companies did on Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT).
And we are still being told we need MORE gas, even after the Coalition – THE COALITION – admitted that Australia doesn’t have a gas shortage and we could just use the spare gas (uncontracted gas) fossil fuel companies like to sell on the spot market for even more money, and fulfil all our domestic needs. And lower energy costs for the manufacturing industry we are so desperate to reinvigorate.
Instead, Australia is continuing to support Japan and South Korea’s upstream gas empire, with both nations establishing demand in Southeast Asia, and then pushing Australia to keep feeding it, through them.
The report asks:
“Australia has become an enabler in Japan and Korea’s Gas Empire. The question is, will we choose to continue supporting the expansion of the empire, increasing their short-term profits as climate change wreaks havoc on people and the planet? Or will we take a stand, ensuring that energy demand and decarbonisation across our region is met by cheaper, cleaner renewable energy, keep global warming below 1.5°C and allow communities to flourish.”
Just one day before the report was released the federal court ruled that Australia’s Commonwealth Government does not owe a duty of care to the people of the Torres Strait Islands to protect them from the impacts of climate change.
The why is a little complicated – Australian legislation doesn’t force the government to set climate targets based on the science (and in fact, the court found that under the Coalition Government, science didn’t really come into it at all when emission reduction targets were set in 2015, 2020 and 2021) and under present negligence law in Australia, there is no real mechanism for a specific duty of care in this area.
Basically, our laws don’t allow for people to sue us for not following the science and ensuring we are doing all we can to lower our emissions and ensure the survival of not just us, but those people already facing the impact of climate change – which includes our ‘allies’ and “family” in the Pacific.
All of this is connected. And our government is at the heart of all of it. And contrary to capitalist belief, we are not going to be saved by paying wealthy people, corporations and states more money to use their land to “offset” future carbon emissions, which gives fossil fuel companies and other giant emitters a leave pass to not cut their emissions at all.
Capitalism is not going to save us. It’s what got us into this mess. Which brings us back to where we started – what is Labor going to do with its power?
At the moment, not a lot. Shifting that will require shifting where the power sits. Moving it from the false narratives of fossil fuel coal and gas companies to the demands of the people. That’s hard, but not impossible.
And we think, with your help, we can make it inevitable.
As always, take care of you. Amy x
— Amy Remeikis is the Chief Political Analyst at the Australia Institute
The Big Stories
Tax reform for a better Australia
This week, the media reported leaked advice from Treasury to the federal government that the budget cannot be fixed without raising taxes and cutting spending.
Our research shows there are several ways to increase the bottom line in ways that will also make our tax system fairer and the Australian community safer.
$12 billion could fund 70,000 extra jobs to improve education, health and a host of other public services. $63 billion would enable the government to raise support payments above the poverty line and double spending on education and housing.
The huge cost to state budgets of failing GST
New Australia Institute research shows that if the GST had kept up with economic growth, as it was intended to do, states and territories would have received an additional $231 billion in revenue in the time since it was introduced.
That includes $22 billion in lost revenue in 2023-24 alone.
The decline of GST revenue has been driven by inequality. This is because wages haven’t kept up with the cost of housing, which means lower-income earners have less money to spend on other things that GST is applied to, and wealthier people are able to avoid GST on things they are more likely to use, like private health insurance and private school fees.
Two thirds of Australians want a review into AUKUS
Our research, released this week, revealed that 66% of Australians want a Parliamentary Inquiry into AUKUS, and fewer than half of those surveyed believe that the agreement with the US and UK makes Australia safer.
“It is truly extraordinary that of the three countries that are party to the deal, Australia – which bears the brunt of both the cost and the risk – is the only one not to have put AUKUS to a genuine review,” said Emma Shortis, Director of the International & Security Affairs program at The Australia Institute.
“In a healthy democracy, scrutiny of a deal the size and scope of AUKUS should be welcomed.”
Over 12,000 people have already signed our petition calling for a Parliamentary Inquiry into AUKUS. Can you sign and share?
AUKUS will not make Australia safer. It makes Australia more vulnerable, and compromises our ability to make independent decisions about our own security.
What is the government doing to protect the World Heritage-listed Murujuga rock art?
The ancient Indigenous rock art on Western Australia’s Burrup Peninsula has been deservedly listed on the UNESCO World Heritage Register.
But the spectacular Murujuga petroglyphs remain under threat.
Extensive scientific evidence reveals that pollution from the adjacent Woodside gas export terminal has seriously damaged the engravings.
The Australia Institute’s documentary The Fight to Save Murujuga features interviews with Indigenous elders, scientists, and renowned artists.
Scientists warn that unless the acid gas emissions from the terminal are curtailed, the rock art will be destroyed, regardless of the World Heritage listing.
Despite these warnings from scientists, in late May, Environment Minister Murray Watt provisionally approved a 50-year expansion of the gas project, claiming the approval was subject to strict conditions to protect Murujuga.
However, those conditions remain a secret. The Australia Institute last week wrote to Minister Watt requesting the conditions be made public.
Dead Centre: new Vantage Point essay by Richard Denniss
We are one of the richest countries in the world, yet our health, education and public transport systems are a pale imitation of what many Europeans enjoy.
“Maybe Australians are happy with the way things are, but I suspect not,” writes Richard Denniss in his new Vantage Point essay Dead Centre.
“Like an old street directory, the left/right/centre map of Australian politics is dated, disorienting and dangerously incomplete. We need a new map.”
The Win
Commonwealth Bank says cutting company tax rate should not be a priority
Commonwealth Bank’s submission to the Productivity Commission says “We do not believe that lowering the company tax rate should be a priority,”
This brings the CBA in line with the ACTU and ACOSS (and the Australia Institute of course) on the fact that cutting the corporate tax rate makes no economic sense.
In 2017 Trump slashed company tax – but it did nothing for employment or investment.
What did we see instead?
Big benefits to rich shareholders through share buy-backs and dividend increases, and increase in mergers and acquisitions that benefit corporate executives and make big business even bigger.
Read: 10 reasons why Australia does not need company tax cuts
The Bin
Angus Taylor thinks Australia should make a “joint commitment” with the US to the security of Taiwan
The Trump administration has made it clear that it can’t be relied upon to stick to any of the US’s existing commitments. So it’s not exactly clear why the Shadow Defence Minister might think Australia should seek out new ones – let alone ones that pre-commit Australia to war.
The Quote
“Today the RBA got its wish.”
Following the news of an increase in the unemployment rate from 4.1% to 4.3% – the biggest jump for 14 months and the second biggest increase since the end of 2021 – Greg Jericho writes about the RBA’s decision to not cut interest rates last week.
“To an extent, the RBA’s choice was unsurprising. The RBA actually wants more people to lose their jobs. They desire this due to a misguided and cruel belief that there needs to be more people unemployed in order to keep inflation around 2.5%,”
“The labour force figures highlight that not only has the RBA monetary policy board pursed a nonsensical monetary policy, they have also completely misread the economy in a manner that calls into question the board’s competence.”
Podcasts
“Out of patience”: it’s time to fix the housing crisis | Follow the Money
Amy Remeikis and Matt Grudnoff join Ebony Bennett discuss the political relevance of the housing crisis, the storm-in-a-teacup over some Treasury subheadings, and #NotAllEconomists.
Listen now:
Special treatment: why are defence dollars different? | Dollars & Sense
The Australian Government doesn’t allocate spending to health or education as a proportion of GDP. Why should defence be any different?
Listen now:
Trump’s pharma tariffs would hurt Americans the most | After America
Dr Ruth Mitchell, neurosurgeon and Nobel Peace Prize winner with the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons, joins Dr Emma Shortis to discuss why a growing number of Australians want an AUKUS review, Trump’s pharmaceuticals tariffs, and what the US President can learn from Jane Fonda.
Listen now:
No nukes: Australia must push for serious global nuclear disarmament | What’s the Big Idea?
Nuclear weapons are still a threat to humanity. In our age of uncertainty, Australia isn’t doing enough to rid the world of these weapons.
Listen now:
What’s On
Dead Centre: Richard Denniss Book Tour
Like an old street directory, the left/right/centre map of Australian politics is dated, disorienting and dangerously incomplete. The focus on the ‘sensible centre’ has created a bad map where the road leads to nowhere, ignoring evidence when it is convenient and stifling democratic debate about how we can create the country that Australians want.
To discuss how we can make a new map, Richard Denniss is touring Australia with his new Vantage Point essay Dead Centre: how political pragmatism is killing us.
If the government is serious about their commitment to progressive patriotism, they need to tackle the big problems, rather than relying on a centrist narrative that maintains the status quo.
Over the next couple of months, Richard Denniss will be visiting Brisbane, Canberra, Newcastle, Sydney, Melbourne and Perth. Book your tickets to hear about the bravery and boldness our Governments need to address Australia’s biggest challenges.
Human/Nature with Jane Rawson | Australia’s Biggest Book Club
This month’s book club features author Jane Rawson to discuss her new work, Human/Nature, On life in a wild world.
Politics in the Pub: The Fight to Save Murujuga
Canberra, join us for a special screening of the Australia Institute’s documentary The Fight to Save Murujuga with a discussion between Stephen Long and Ebony Bennett.
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