Tax the Gas – Put the Northern Territory First
Right now, Australian beer drinkers pay more tax than gas companies pay in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax.
Right now, Australian beer drinkers pay more tax than gas companies pay in Petroleum Resource Rent Tax.
At the same time, gas export companies are making billions from Australian—and Northern Territory—resources while paying little or no tax.
Territorians are hosting massive gas projects, carrying the environmental and social impacts, and paying high power prices—yet we are not seeing a fair return.
Research from The Australia Institute shows that a 25% tax on gas exports could fix gas shortages, bring down energy bills, and raise around $17 billion every year.
Australians are tired of:
- Gas exports driving up energy prices
- Multinational corporations not paying their fair share
- Governments failing to stand up for the public interest
In the Northern Territory, this is about fairness, sovereignty, and making sure our resources benefit our people.
With an extra $17 billion every year, Australia could transform essential services—and the Northern Territory could finally get the investment it needs:
- Build more housing to reduce overcrowding
- Strengthen remote and regional healthcare
- Properly fund schools and education
- Expand childcare access for working families
- Invest in local jobs, manufacturing, and renewable energy
- Support First Nations communities with long-term, community-led funding
It doesn’t have to be this way. Other gas-rich countries like Norway and Qatar ensure their citizens benefit from their resources. Australia can too.
Australia’s Gas is a publicly owned, finite, natural resource that should benefit all Australians—not just a handful of multinational corporations (who donate generously to the Major Parties at election time).
It is time to stop the giveaway.
It's time to Tax the Gas
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To the Honourable Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Hon. Luke Gosling, Hon. Malandiri McCarthy, and Hon. Marion Scrymgour,
Australia is one of the world’s largest exporters of liquefied natural gas, yet multinational gas corporations are extracting and exporting vast quantities of our publicly owned resources while paying little to no tax. In many cases, Australians are effectively giving away our gas for free, while households and businesses face rising energy prices and cost-of-living pressures.
This situation is neither fair nor sustainable.
Gas is a finite public resource that belongs to all Australians. The current system allows large corporations to minimise or avoid taxation through loopholes, generous deductions, and weak royalty regimes. As a result, billions of dollars in potential public revenue are lost—funds that could otherwise support essential services such as healthcare, education, infrastructure, and climate transition initiatives.
At the same time:
- Australians are paying some of the highest domestic gas prices in the world.
- Communities bear the environmental and social costs of extraction.
- The benefits of our natural wealth are disproportionately flowing offshore.
We therefore call on the Government to:
- Introduce a 25% tax on gas exports to ensure Australians receive a fair share of the wealth generated from our resources.
- Reform or replace ineffective tax mechanisms, including the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax, to close loopholes and guarantee meaningful public revenue.
- Prioritise domestic supply, ensuring affordable gas for Australian households and businesses before exports.
- Deliver transparency and accountability, requiring full public reporting of profits, deductions, and tax payments by gas companies.
- Invest the revenue in Australians, including housing, healthcare, education, childcare, regional development, and a just transition to clean energy—especially in communities like those in the Northern Territory that host gas extraction.
Australia’s natural resources belong to its people.
Territorians deserve their fair share.
Enough giveaways.
Enough excuses.
Tax the Gas.
