We have resources. Would we lose some international investment? Maybe. But time and time again modest tax reform doesn’t lead to capital flight in the way capitalists claim.
And even if we don’t want to rip up contracts (though we should when they’re clearly unfair), there’s no excuse for not progressively instituting new tax and royalties settings as they expire.
And yet, the Labor government won’t, because they’re corrupt and bought by the gas industry (not in a legal sense, but in reality).
The tax reforms are modest, but the precedent ripping up contracts because we’ve retroactively decided they’re unfair isn’t. We could raise slightly more revenue from tax on future projects but gas is on the decline anyway and Australian gas isn’t that profitable. The political capital would be far better spent on something with bigger positive impacts for our economy like a land value tax (assuming there’s any politcal capital to spend, since Labor already spent all of the 2025-2028 political capital on reforming negative gearing).
As for Labor being corrupt. Have they been personally enriching themselves? Taking bribes? No. They’re doing what they’re doing because it’s in the best interest of the country, and because it helps them get re-elected. Don’t dilute the term corruption, what you’re seeing is just politics. Corruption is what you see from the LNP and One Nation.
Sovereign risk affects all industries, not just the gas industry. “Moral cover” counts for nothing.
We have resources. Would we lose some international investment? Maybe. But time and time again modest tax reform doesn’t lead to capital flight in the way capitalists claim.
And even if we don’t want to rip up contracts (though we should when they’re clearly unfair), there’s no excuse for not progressively instituting new tax and royalties settings as they expire.
And yet, the Labor government won’t, because they’re corrupt and bought by the gas industry (not in a legal sense, but in reality).
The tax reforms are modest, but the precedent ripping up contracts because we’ve retroactively decided they’re unfair isn’t. We could raise slightly more revenue from tax on future projects but gas is on the decline anyway and Australian gas isn’t that profitable. The political capital would be far better spent on something with bigger positive impacts for our economy like a land value tax (assuming there’s any politcal capital to spend, since Labor already spent all of the 2025-2028 political capital on reforming negative gearing).
As for Labor being corrupt. Have they been personally enriching themselves? Taking bribes? No. They’re doing what they’re doing because it’s in the best interest of the country, and because it helps them get re-elected. Don’t dilute the term corruption, what you’re seeing is just politics. Corruption is what you see from the LNP and One Nation.