Greens pledge to tax the big corporations to fund world-class hospital system for WA

The Greens have pledged $1.14 billion in extra federal funding for WA chronically underfunded hospitals.

This investment would be funded by repairing the broken ‘resource super profits tax’ (the PRRT), forcing big corporations to pay royalties on the gas they currently access for free.

The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax (PRRT), introduced in 1987, is meant to ensure that the public gets a fair share of the unearned revenue (rent) enjoyed by companies by virtue of having exclusive access to Commonwealth resources. 

Yet the majority of coal and gas corporations currently offshore their profits tax free.

By charging royalties on gas extracted in Commonwealth waters and wiping the obscene backlog of ‘tax credits’ used to avoid paying tax, we can raise over $92 billion over the next decade. 

The Greens will legislate to amend the PRRT, ensuring it does what it was designed to do - tax the big corporations fairly on their wealth so that we can fund the things we need to create a safer future for all of us, including but not limited to:

• Properly funding WA’s hospital system 

• Building 118,900 homes in Western Australia over the next twenty years

• Create hundreds of thousands of secure and well paid jobs in the renewable energy sector in WA 

• Getting dental and mental health care into Medicare.

Repairing the broken PRRT is a key part of the Greens’ comprehensive plan to create a better life for all of us, by making the billionaires and big corporations pay their fair share of tax. 

The Australian Tax Office has referred to the gas industry as “systemic non-payers” of tax and acknowledged that despite earning tens of billions in income each year, the ATO expects no significant tax revenue to come from gas companies until “the mid-2030s”.

Instead of raising revenue from their rich mates, governments at all levels have cut services for the rest of us – like public health, education and social services.

In March, the AMA (WA) 2022 Public Hospital Report Card showed “the WA Government’s chronic underfunding of health has created the vulnerabilities that have plagued the system in recent years,” with health operational budgets “still in serial decline.” 

Lines attributable to Australian Greens leader, Adam Bandt:

“In just one year, 27 big gas corporations brought in $77b in income but paid no tax. 

“When a nurse pays more tax than a multinational, something is seriously wrong.

“The Greens will make big gas corporations pay their fair share of tax to help get dental into Medicare.

“Australia’s natural resources belong to the people, but Liberal and Labor are giving away our gas for free, losing billions of dollars that should be funding hospitals and schools.

“The people of WA currently contribute more tax through car registrations than the multi-billion dollar gas industry pays for gas. 

“WA is being taken to the cleaners by big coal and gas corporations, and Australians are being ripped off.

“No other business gets their raw materials for free, but Woodside, Chevron and Exxon get free gas from this tax rort and then make obscene profits that they send offshore.

“Mining and burning coal and gas isn’t just driving the climate crisis, these big corporations are driving the cost of living crisis too.”

Lines attributable to Senator Dorinda Cox, Australian Greens Senator for Western Australia:

“For decades, both Liberal and Labor governments have given billionaires and corporations massive tax handouts and tax breaks. 

“You know something is seriously wrong when billionaires like Gina Reinhart and Clive Palmer have more than doubled their wealth during a pandemic - and when our state gets more revenue from car registrations than we do from the multi-billion dollar gas industry. 

“While they get away with making huge profits, West Australians are missing out.

“Often, when we need healthcare, it is at a vulnerable time in our lives. By making oil and gas pay their fair share, we can properly invest in our hospital system, so that more West Australians can get the health care they need, when they need it.

“Taxing the billionaires and making them pay their fair share of tax would mean investments in a world-class hospital system in WA.

“We can deliver this, along with a home for all, thousands of well paid secure jobs in a renewables economy, and get dental into Medicare - all by making the billionaires and the big corporations pay their fair share.”

Statement ends