Nicole Johnston

I'm Nicole Johnston, and you're listening to 7am.

Today, in a special bonus episode, founder of Hunter's Politics, Conrad Benjamin, on why he thinks gas companies are ripping off Australia and the government is letting them get away with it.

It's Thursday, April 23.

Conrad, how does a former high school teacher end up in front of a Senate inquiry slamming the government for giving away the country's liquefied natural gas?

So it sounds like you partly went to the other side by getting your own lobbyist.

So you end up at a Senate inquiry.

Why do you think it could even change anything?

Now, this inquiry is all about the tax or lack of tax that's paid for gas exports.

So give us your background argument on that.

What is the problem, in your opinion?

Conrad, you interviewed Tanya Plebisek about this and she agreed that Australia's natural resources belong to Australians.

So on one hand, we have the government saying that it's considering going further in taxing these windfall profits.

But on the other hand, the message is, don't worry, it's complicated.

We've got it.

So do you think there is now a real push for a flat gas export tax?

Coming up, could a big gas tax wipe out investment?

Conrad, let's have a chat about the actual arguments from the oil and gas industry.

Now, I think they say that they're the second largest corporate taxpayers in Australia, that a windfall tax could see investment dry up by making some of their projects uncompetitive.

And then you end up with weaker energy security, job losses.

What do you think of all those types of arguments?