What could Australia do with an extra $17 billion a year?

A fair tax on the gas we sell overseas could bring in around $17 billion a year. Every year.

Right now it brings in less than beer excise. 

Here's what their tab could pay for.

1. FREE CHILDCARE FOR EVERY KID
Universal free childcare would cost around $8 billion a year.
2. Wipe the HECS debt
The Federal Government collects more from student HECS repayments than from the entire Petroleum Resource Rent Tax. Even a student pays more than gas. Imagine the maths the other way around.
3. Dental on Medicare
Bringing dental into Medicare has been costed at around $5.7 billion a year. Gas exporters are sitting on more than enough to cover every chipped molar in the country. Forever.

01 — Free childcare for every kid

Universal free childcare would cost around $8 billion a year.


THE OPTIONS

  • 1. Free childcare for every kid

    Universal free childcare would cost around $8 billion a year.

  • 2. Wipe the HECS debt

    The Federal Government collects more from student HECS repayments than from the entire Petroleum Resource Rent Tax.

    Even a student pays more than gas. Imagine the maths the other way around.

  • 3. Dental on Medicare

    Bringing dental into Medicare has been costed at around $5.7 billion a year.

    Gas exporters are sitting on more than enough to cover every chipped molar in the country. Forever.

  • 4. Bring power bills back down

    East coast gas prices have tripled since the export boom kicked off.

    A fair tax plus a serious domestic reservation policy could push them back down. Households win. Manufacturers win. Pubs win.

  • 5. Build the homes Australia needs

    $17 billion a year into social and affordable housing would be nation-building.

    Norway does it from gas. Qatar does it. We hand ours away and wonder why the kids can't afford to move out.

  • 6. All of the above

    This isn't either-or. $17 billion a year, every year, is the kind of money that builds a country.

    Norway figured that out. So could we.

Here's the deal.

Australia is one of the biggest gas exporters in the world. We sell more of it than Qatar.

The companies that do the selling pay almost nothing back. The tax on gas exports brings in less than beer excise. Less than what students owe in HECS. Less than the GST raised on cigarettes.

That isn't a free market. That's a free ride.

It's time to hand them the bill.

It's

their

shout.

Help us hand them the bill.