Published: 29 Nov 2016
Major design faults with the royalty regime for the gas industry should be scrutinised thoroughly by the Australian Parliament.
Paddy Crumlin, ITF President welcomed news the Australian Senate will look at the design of the Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT) following campaigning by the union and civil society organisations including the Tax Justice Network, ACTU and environment groups.
“LNG will become Australia’s second biggest export industry in the next five years with $40 billion in exports in 2019.
“ITF research demonstrates, internationally, Australia is a soft target for the oil and gas industry.
“Overall we estimate that if LNG paid royalties at the same level as when the PRRT scheme was established in Australia we would be set to recoup approximately $500 billion in revenue over the next 20 years.
“To put that figure in perspective the Australian Government net debt in 2016 was $406 billion,” he said.
“As the Australian National Audit Office report shows oil and gas companies can self-regulate how much royalty payments they should pay.
“Given Chevron last year was forced to pay $300 million in back taxes by the Supreme Court all Australians should be deeply concerned about the lack of effect oversight of the industry.
“Australia is putting the fox in charge of the henhouse when it comes to LNG royalties,” Mr Crumlin said.
The ITF has led the campaign to expose the great LNG royalties rort with the release of ground-breaking research comparing Australia’s performance to the major global LNG producers. More information can be found here.http://www.chevrontax.info/
Background
About ITF
ITF is the international transport union’s federation representing around 700 unions, and more than 4.5 million transport workers from 150 countries.
In Australia, the ITF member unions include the MUA, AWU, TWU and RTBU.
Chevron’s Australian tax arrangements are detailed here.http://www.chevrontax.info/
