Ian Verrender

Now, because that's probably not going to be worked out until later this year, each of the exporters is really just walking on eggshells at the moment because they don't want to be penalised or hit with some massive,

model that is going to really stop them from making money.

And right now, you've got this shortage around the world because of what's happened in Iran and the Strait of Hormuz being closed.

So they don't know what to do.

Now, on top of that, there is also the Greens, which have forced a select Senate hearing into the tax arrangements around our big gas exports.

The fact that this is a huge industry, the exports

multiple billions of dollars worth of gas each year and pays well what a lot of people would argue would be an insignificant amount of tax on that.

So they've got this double whammy of here's the gas reservation policy which is yet to be properly formulated and the potential for windfall tax, windfall profits tax.

Well, firstly, I mean, everybody thinks that resources in the ground belong to the Commonwealth and belong to the people of Australia, which is kind of true.

But it actually gets down to a state basis because Australia is a federation of states.

And so it's the...

not Australians per se, but the people who live within the states.

Those resources belong to the states and shouldn't be governed for people who are just currently alive, but for future generations as well.

Now, how does it work?

Well, and how did that come about?

The East Coast gas exports come from gas that's supplied out of Bass Strait, out of New South Wales, out of Queensland.

So the gas all comes from each of those three states.

So obviously there was difficulty in trying to come to some kind of arrangement between the three states to get some kind of policy there.

But it was actively explored and decided, this is the Gillard government, they were already under pressure from iron ore taxes and the resources rent tax on iron ore.

And they very successfully managed to force the then Labor government to junk that resources rent tax, come up with a second best option, which was then completely thrown out when Tony Abbott became Prime Minister.