Statement From One Nation Leader Senator Pauline Hanson

You might not know it but Australia has the weakest oil and gas laws in the world, and it is costing all of us billions of dollars in lost income.

Australia is the world’s biggest exporter of natural gas, yet we as a nation earn very little income from those exports.

These destructive laws have been exploited by clever corporate lawyers who have locked up our reserves for the likes of Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, BP, and ConocoPhillips.

Gas sourced from our own natural reserves is now sold more cheaply overseas than we can buy it here. It’s ironic that Australian gas provides China with 10% of its total energy needs while Australians themselves can’t source enough of this valuable energy source.

In 2004, rebates for exploration work and claims on expenses were introduced by the Government, enabling the foreign mega-companies to stockpile $360 billion in tax credits (to date) for their operations. The credits are able to be rolled over, year after year, meaning Australia will never be compensated for oil and gas taken from the north-west shelf.

Your readers can imagine the benefits to every Australian if multi-national oil and gas companies were forced to pay a fair level of tax on our resources that they extract and sell off overseas. Better and cheaper availability of our natural gas would provide a reliable source of power for the Australian industry, which would help our manufacturing and the economy.

I believe the “legal theft” of our oil and gas needs to stop. How can we turn the economy around more effectively if we give up these massive funds without a fight?

This week, I introduced a Private Senator’s Bill to ensure future exploitation of oil and gas reserves is carried out for the benefit of the Australian community. The Bill will force multinationals who hoard gas leases to “use them or lose them” to companies that will proceed to extract the gas for the use of Australians.

My Bill would also put an end to floating drilling and production platforms that are anchored to the seabed avoiding paying compensation through the domestic gas reserve policy in Western Australia.
While my Bill won’t change the failed tax laws (only the Government can do that), it is a baby step in the right direction to start counteracting the massive and unacceptable losses suffered from the sale of our oil and gas.

One Nation WA South West member Colin Tincknell had a win on behalf of his Collie constituents last week when the State Government agreed to rezone land to allow for the expansion of non-mining related heavy industry in the town.
 
Mr Tincknell has been advocating for several years on behalf of a number of Collie businessmen who have been unable to expand their business because there has been no suitably zoned land available.
 
“The ridiculous situation had arisen where these businessmen couldn’t expand their business and employ more local people because the WA Government had decided that the 220 hectares of land it had zoned for heavy industry in the Shotts Strategic Industrial Area, was for mining-related industry only,” Mr Tincknell said.
 
“When you look at all the noise the McGowan Government has made over the past four years about diversifying Collie’s economy away from its reliance on mining, this just didn’t make sense.”
 
In answer to a question from Mr Tincknell on the last sitting day of Parliament before next year’s March election, the Minister for Planning agreed that land currently set aside in the Schotts estate for mining-related heavy industry should be rezoned to allow general heavy industry.
 
“We agree that it should not be limited to coal,” the Minister said.
 
The Minister went on to say that change to the scheme would be advertised but that businesses registering an interest in the land before the close of the advertising period next year would be able to negotiate on the basis that the change would happen.
 
“It’s a shame it took the Minister until the final sitting day of Parliament to acknowledge the problem and come up with a workaround,” Mr Tincknell said.
 
“There have been businesses in Collie that have been treading water for years while they could have been expanding and employing more local people.”