Australian Greens Leader David Shoebridge has once again voiced his support for a 25% tax on gas exports during a key speech at the National Press Club in Canberra today.
Wed 28 Oct 2026 13.28 AEDT
Photo: AAP Image/Lukas Coch
Australian Greens Leader David Shoebridge has once again voiced his support for a 25% tax on gas exports during a key speech at the National Press Club in Canberra today.
The Greens have also been pushing for a national plebiscite on taxing gas exports, backing a call from The Australia Institute to let the public decide.
More than 100,000 people across Australia have signed the petition.
Polling by RedBridge shows there is support across party lines for a 25 per cent tax on gas exports, including strong support from One Nation and Greens voters.
It also showed that One Nation voters were more likely than the Greens to agree that Australia exports too much gas.
“For months now, across the country, we’ve been calling for a minimum 25% tax on gas exports,” Senator Shoebridge told the Press Club.
“Australians pay more tax on beer than the gas corporations pay on their profits from exports. Japan gathers more tax on the imports of our gas than we get on the export of it.”
“The campaign has enormous public support”.
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“We’d tax gas exports to raise an extra $17 billion a year, because of course we should.”
Independent Senator David Pocock, whose questions comparing the tax Australians pay on beer with revenue collected by the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax at Senate Estimates earlier this year went viral, is also a vocal supporter of the policy.
“We’re in this ridiculous situation where, as one of the biggest gas exporters in the world, we have the Petroleum Resources Rent Tax collecting less revenue than beer tax,” Senator Pocock said earlier this year.
“This needs to change, and it needs to change with a 25 per cent tax on gas exports.”
Since July 2022, Australia has missed out on more than $78 billion in revenue by not implementing a 25% tax on gas exports.
The calls for a higher tax rate on gas companies has also been echoed by Nobel Laureate Joseph Stiglitz, who urged the Australian Government to “follow the money” and start imposing “a very, very high tax rate” on the country’s natural resources.
“Get the highest value from whoever can extract your resources,” Professor Stiglitz said.
