MATTERS OF URGENCY

Senator DAVID POCOCK (Australian Capital Territory—Independent ACT Whip) (16:41): I thank Senator Hodgins-May and the Greens for bringing this important motion to the Senate, a motion that deserves support across the chamber. The motion builds on the work done by the Prosper Australia Research Institute with the blunt title Australia's Resource Wealth Giveaway.

I don't think it's a radical idea that our resources belong to the Australian people and that, when they are extracted, the Australian people should see a return. We should be thinking about the long term and actually setting ourselves up for the future rather than squandering that opportunity to extract value from a finite resource. Once we export gas to Japan, that gas has gone, and we never have the opportunity to extract value from it again.

Yet we're in a situation where over half of the gas that is exported from this country is totally royalty free. We've got a government that made some tweaks to the petroleum resource rent tax and tried to sell that as a massive win when we know—the gas companies know and everyone knows—that the PRRT is a total joke when it comes to gas. It was designed for oil and actually got us a decent return from Bass Strait.

But when it comes to gas, it does not work. I hear all the time from Australians concerned that our parliament is not thinking long term, not having the guts to stand up to vested interests and not having the guts to stand up to the companies that so many people in this place then go and lobby for or work for. Just look at the list of resources ministers.

Look at where they go and work after their time regulating the gas industry and regulating the coal industry. They're straight in there on a very cushy salary, I'm sure. And that doesn't cut it.

That erodes trust in this place. Look at what the government has now done with the gas reservation policy, which I think almost all Australians think is a very good idea. We should absolutely be reserving Australian gas for Australians, first and foremost.

It is ridiculous that in Australia we have constant talk of a gas shortage. We don't have a gas supply problem in this country; we've got a gas export problem. So I welcome a reservation policy from the government.

It seems to be designed in such a way that the minister simply has the opportunity to engage with all of these gas companies, and it's her decision as to how much they have to reserve. What kind of a policy is that? Why would you want that as a minister—being lobbied non-stop by Santos, Woodside and INPEX, all of these companies, rather than just having a very clear policy that delivers for Australians?

I guess you would want it if you hoped to then end up in that industry. If we look at history, which I think is a pretty good predictor of the future, and if we look at our current resources minister and where they'll potentially end up, then it's a great policy! I hear so much frustration—not just frustration but anger—from Australians at the lack of action and the lack of courage from this parliament, from both sides of politics, to actually just get a fair return from our resources.

That should not be a radical idea. You have a crossbench that is urging you to do that, to stand up to these companies, and say, 'It's time you paid us as a country.'