MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator McDONALD (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate) (16:07): I rise to oppose this ridiculous rehash of a motion. We have discussed this previously. We had an entire Senate inquiry into this notion, which was filled with absolute lies, mistruths and misrepresentations.

In fact, we've just heard some of them repeated again, even though the evidence does not support the view that Japan makes more tax out of Australia's gas than Australia does. It was clearly demonstrated. We had evidence on this, and yet we have to continue listening to this absolute rubbish.

There are no new ideas coming out of this, because this is not a grassroots campaign to get a fair share on our resources. To be clear, this is not an argument based on fact or economics; this is an activist run campaign, a thinly veiled attempt to shut down fossil fuels and future prosperity in this country. The Greens political party know this.

They know what they are doing. So let's be very, very clear about what's behind this. Despite the calls for transparency and clarity on donations, the reason why you know donations from gas companies is that they comply with the rule of law in Australia.

They comply with legislation, unlike the donations that are flowing in, in the hundreds of millions of dollars, to the Environmental Defenders Office—millions of taxpayers' dollars that they took to make fake evidence in court. What about the IEEFA and the Australia Institute? They trumpet the need for openness and transparency, yet they do not disclose where their money comes from.

We should care about that. When there are activist organisations seeking to alter the political path of this country, to alter the domestic security of our energy supplies and to distort the future prosperity of Australia, the jobs of thousands of Australians and the $22 billion in state and federal taxes and royalties received from the gas industry, we should know where their money comes from.

Fortunately, in the US, they have a transparency register for these people, so we see some of the breadcrumbs of their work. But they have absolutely stated they want to shut down fossil fuels around the world, and Australia has been their working ground. I understand economics.

I desperately want to see future prosperity for this country. It's why I came to parliament. I believe in building Australia and more income for Australia to ensure that we are the First World, prosperous nation that we've enjoyed being in the past.

We have received billions of dollars from the resources sector and have fantastically well-paid jobs worth double what most of us enjoy. In fact, currently, we've got electricians working in the gas industry who are on $400,000 a year. That will not last if this campaign is successful.

In 2014, the Secretary General of NATO demonstrated that the anti-fracking, anti-gas campaign in Europe and in the UK was run by Russian money. That campaign sought to undermine the UK's energy sovereignty and financial resilience. It was allegedly to increase Europe's reliance on Russian energy sources.

We saw how that worked out. The Russian pipeline got blown up, and Europe and the UK in particular were on their knees. That's the goal here.

The goal is to reduce Australia's energy sovereignty and our financial independence. This is not a fantasy. It's not a James Bond thriller.

This is happening right now, under our noses, because we do not demand the same transparency and scrutiny that we do of politicians. We can't take money from overseas sources. Anybody who gives to us, we have to disclose.

So I ask the Greens political party who sit opposite us: on whose behalf are you acting when you push this campaign? Because it's certainly not in Australia's interest.