QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Foreign Affairs and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:19): Thank you to the senator for her question. What I would say to her is, first, I think we all want the agreement for the ending of the conflict in the Middle East to hold, but I think we are also aware that this is a challenging process. Even if the agreement continues to hold, it will take some time for global supply and global markets to return to where they were and, in fact, they may not return to precisely the same shape and dimensions that they were prior to the conflict.

I understand what you're advocating, but the premise of your question is that we're back to normal now. We aren't. It has been the largest shock to energy markets ever, even more than the 1970s, so it will take some time to recover from that.

In relation to the substantive issue, which is your proposition, we do agree that gas companies should pay their fair share of tax, and we also believe that Australians should have a fair share of the benefit of gas. I think you might have asked me questions before where I've explained why we believe the priority at the moment is the gas reservation scheme, which has benefits for our economy, for workers and businesses and for households.

It is the priority at the moment, and that is what the government is focused on delivering. The PRESIDENT: Senator Hodgins-May, first supplementary?