Since signing the Paris Agreement in 2015, Australia’s fossil gas exports have doubled, and coal exports have increased significantly. Large exporters of fossil fuels, like Australia, avoid scrutiny of their inaction on climate by emphasising domestic emissions and avoiding discussion on fossil fuel production. The Santa Marta Conference on Transitioning Away from Fossil Fuels offers

Australia’s gas exporters pay little tax and royalties, employ few people, push up gas and electricity prices for Australian families and businesses, and worsen the climate crisis. If the Albanese government again delays major reform to the taxation of Australia’s gas export industry, these costs to Australian taxpayers will continue to mount. Refusing to tax

Australians are suffering from climate disasters that are accelerating as climate change worsens. Climate change is spurred on by the historical and present emissions of the fossil fuel industry. A levy on fossil fuel exports could make the fossil fuel industry pay for the harms it has caused and raise up to $100 billion every year.

Unlimited gas exports over the past decade have increased energy prices for Australians, worsened climate change and raised little money for the public. Most gas exports pay zero royalties and Australia’s petroleum tax collects less revenue than HECS. The Albanese government’s response is a ‘gas reservation scheme’. While the details are currently being negotiated, the

The Albanese Government has acknowledged Australia’s gas export problem. However, rather than implement a tax that would reduce domestic prices, raise revenue and help the climate, the government looks to be weighing options that favour either Santos or its rivals Origin and Shell.

Australia Institute research has long documented the comprehensive failure of government policies to prioritise the interests of Australians over multinational gas exporters. Our view is that the incremental technocratic policies of successive governments to solve these issues have failed, and that a fresh approach is needed. The ACTU’s proposal for a 25% tax on gas

Until the mid-2010s, wholesale gas prices in eastern Australia were low.

YouGov conducted a national survey of 1,522 voters on behalf of The Australia Institute between 27 June and 3 July 2025, using an online survey polling methodology.

Gas exports from WA cause more greenhouse gas emissions than 153 individual countries.

Companies exporting liquified natural gas from Australia have made windfall profits close to $100 billion since 2022, when energy prices spiked because of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. Most of these profits are based on royalty-free gas and no Petroleum Resource Rent Tax was paid. At best, $20 billion in company tax was paid on this

Australians are being ripped off by gas export corporations.

Over half of Australia’s gas exports are given away, without payment of royalties or Petroleum Resource Rent Tax. Over the last four years, multinational companies made $170 billion exporting gas they got for free. Based on Federal Government forecasts, to 2030 another $170 billion of liquified natural gas will be exported based on free gas.

Wholesale gas and electricity prices have tripled in Western Australia since 2020, when the WA government first permitted exports of domestic gas, linking the domestic and international markets. Approval for the Woodside’s proposed North West Shelf Extension will lock in this link for the long term, leading to increased costs for West Australian households and

If Western Australia was a country, it would be the world’s third largest exporter of liquefied natural gas (LNG). Yet, despite the huge amounts of gas produced in WA annually, recent media reports claim the state is heading for a gas shortage. How can WA be running short of gas when it is a globally

According to the Australian Government’s Future Gas Strategy, gas is “critical” to the nation’s economy. In view of this, many Australians might be surprised to learn that a large amount of the country’s gas reserves are essentially being given away for free.

Woodside’s North West Shelf Extension has not identified sufficient gas supply for its export capacity. This is already resulting in applications to divert domestic gas to the export terminal. This will permanently destabilise WA’s domestic gas market.

According to the Australian Government’s Future Gas Strategy, gas is “critical” to the nation’s economy.

Royalty revenue from WA gas exports has halved in the past two years and now makes up just 1.5% of budget revenue.

WA is a globally significant gas exporter, but gas is insignificant in the WA economy.

Submission to Senate Standing Committees on Economics inquiry into the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Accountability and Fairness) Bill 2023 [Provisions].

Offshore gas must not bypass genuine consultation with traditional owners or the wider community. Adequate consultation will always challenge the crumbling social license of fossil fuel operations – perhaps that is why there are proposals to “clarify and improve” consultation and approvals?

Gas development has few economic benefits beyond those that flow to the gas industry itself. The industry is a small employer, systematic non-payer of tax and crowds out other industries.

The NT LNG facility aims to produce up 20 million tonnes of LNG per year for export using gas fracked from the Northern Territory’s Beetaloo Basin.

There are 116 new fossil fuel projects on the Federal Government’s annual Resource & Energy Major Project list, two more than at the end of 2021. If all proceed as estimated, they will add 4.8 billion tonnes of emissions to the atmosphere by 2030.

Energy prices spiked worldwide following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the resulting restrictions on Russia’s gas exports. This has in turn increased the value of Australian LNG exports and the profits of LNG companies. We estimate the war related windfall gain to LNG companies in 2021-22 at between $26 billion and $40 billion.

The Australia Institute welcomes the opportunity to appeal Report 1727 North West Shelf Project Extension Proposal. The role of the Western Australian Environmental Protection Authority (EPA) is to prevent, control and abate pollution and environmental harm. In recommending the approval of a 50-year extension of Australia’s most polluting fossil fuel project, the North West Shelf

Despite being labelled as ‘clean energy’, none of the emissions HESC has produced in its pilot phase have been buried through Carbon Capture and Storage.

Five of Australian Petroleum Production & Exploration Association’s (APPEA) most prominent member companies have paid no income tax for at least the past seven years despite combined income from their Australian operations of $138 billion. A sixth company, Santos, paid just $6 million on $28.9 billion of income, and paid no income tax from 2015

Freedom of Information documents show that when designing the ERF CCS method, the Clean Energy Regulator consulted almost exclusively with fossil fuel companies and big emitters, while actively excluding independent researchers.