Energy giants spending millions of dollars on advertising blitz to fight gas export tax, inquiry told

The gas giants are mounting a multi-million dollar advertising campaign to fight against a new export tax, prompting 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 online with the independent senator David Pocock, social media influencer Konrad Benjamin – otherwise known as Punter’s Politics – and the Australia Institute think tank 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 country chair Cecile Wake said the campaign was necessary to “counter-balance” the “very selective” claims pushed by advocates.

“What we are trying to do through that (the campaign) is to counter-balance 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.