<
https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2026/apr/22/energy-giants-spending-millions-of-dollars-on-advertising-blitz-to-fight-gas-export-tax-inquiry-told>
"Gas companies are mounting a multimillion-dollar advertising campaign to fight
against a new export tax, prompting the Labor MP Ed Husic to accuse the
industry of “defending the indefensible”.
Shell Australia is among half a dozen oil and gas companies contributing around
$1m to an Australian Energy Producers (AEP) campaign that attempts to justify
the amount of tax the industry pays, a parliamentary inquiry heard on
Wednesday.
The advertising blitz is part of a rearguard action from the industry as public
support builds for the Albanese government to replace the existing petroleum
resources rent tax (PRRT) with a 25% levy on gas export revenue.
The pro-tax campaign has gained traction with the independent senator David
Pocock, social media influencer Konrad Benjamin – known online as Punter’s
Politics – and the Australia Institute thinktank prosecuting the case that gas
companies were ripping off taxpayers.
The gas industry’s peak body is now running a counter-campaign, which claims
the oil and gas sector was expected to contribute $21.9bn in various taxes and
royalties to federal, state and territory governments in 2024-25.
Under questioning from Pocock at Wednesday’s hearing of the parliamentary
inquiry into a new gas tax, Shell Australia’s country chair, Cecile Wake, said
the campaign was necessary to “counterbalance” the “very selective” claims
pushed by advocates.
“What we are trying to do through that [campaign] is to counterbalance the very
selective and misleading representations of a number of other social
commentators. It is a modest and proportionate amount to spend to put some
salient facts in front of the Australian public. It is balanced, it is fact
based,” Wake, who also chairs AEP’s board, said.
“I am comfortable that it is an appropriate and commensurate figure that is
simply putting facts in front of the Australian people and they can draw their
own conclusions from that.”
Wake claimed the campaign’s budget was “orders of magnitude” smaller than the
amount that the industry’s opponents were spending, without specifying which
opponents she was referring to or providing evidence of their expenditure.
The latest Meta data shows AEP has spent $170,500 pushing pro-gas messages on
Facebook and Instagram in the 30 days to 19 April, making it the biggest
spender on political advertising in that period."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
