The corporate giants that dominate Australia’s gas industry appear to be on the backfoot, as a long overdue Senate inquiry into taxing gas exports kicked off on April 21.

Introduced by the Greens, the Select Committee on the Taxation of Gas Resources will hear submissions from economists and climate action organisations, as well as advocacy groups, which are calling for such a tax. They include the Climate Council of Australia, The Australia Institute and the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU), with the latter proposing a rate of 25% on exported gas, which could yield up to $17 billion a year.

Calls for action on taxation have also been backed by former Treasury Secretary Ken Henry, Commonwealth Bank CEO Matt Comyn, Labor MP Ed Husic and several others from his party. Even Liberal MP Andrew Hastie has said he would consider the option.

The ABC on April 24 reported that, under this pressure, Santos, Origin and Shell have reversed their earlier position of sending the majority of domestically-produced gas offshore and are “suddenly putting Australians first”, even as people in European and Asian countries face exorbitant gas prices, and as the US locks down the Strait of Hormuz.

It said while Western Australia has had a domestic gas reservation policy for than two decades, only after “years of intense pressure” has Labor committed last year to a gas reservation police for the East coast.

During previous wars — such as Russia’s invasion of Ukraine........

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