this post was submitted on 13 Aug 2025
62 points (100.0% liked)

Australia

4439 readers
134 users here now

A place to discuss Australia and important Australian issues.

Before you post:

If you're posting anything related to:

If you're posting Australian News (not opinion or discussion pieces) post it to Australian News

Rules

This community is run under the rules of aussie.zone. In addition to those rules:

Banner Photo

Congratulations to @Tau@aussie.zone who had the most upvoted submission to our banner photo competition

Recommended and Related Communities

Be sure to check out and subscribe to our related communities on aussie.zone:

Plus other communities for sport and major cities.

https://aussie.zone/communities

Moderation

Since Kbin doesn't show Lemmy Moderators, I'll list them here. Also note that Kbin does not distinguish moderator comments.

Additionally, we have our instance admins: @lodion@aussie.zone and @Nath@aussie.zone

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
lodion@aussie.zone
Fluid@aussie.zone
bestusername@aussie.zone
eatham@aussie.zone
Nath@aussie.zone
62
Albanese is crying poor, but we’re losing billions a year from untaxed gas (johnmenadue.com)
submitted 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) by HalfEarthMedic@slrpnk.net to c/australia@aussie.zone
11 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

[T] he poor design of the resource rent tax has meant little or no money has been collected. According to Treasury, “to date not a single LNG plant has paid any petroleum resource rent tax and many are not expected to pay any significant amounts until the 2030s.

Nor do the big multinational exporters of gas — including Exxon, Shell and Chevron — seem to pay much company tax. The Australian Taxation Office has labelled the oil and gas industry “systematic non-payers” of tax.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] timmytbt@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

And that’s mostly how I did vote recognising that those preferences likely flow to labor. Lot of good it did.

[–] MisterFrog@aussie.zone 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The preferences flow to Labor because you (and others) preferenced them above the Liberals and other candidates at high enough rates for them to be declared the winner.

The system is working exactly as intended, and while not perfect, is probably one of the best in the world. The parties you voted for didn't gain enough votes to win, so your vote went to the next preference.

It's important to note, you preferencing parties that didn't win doesn't do nothing.

  1. Your first preference receives funding from the AEC, allowing them to campaign next time and otherwise be a force on issues you care about

https://www.aec.gov.au/Parties_and_Representatives/public_funding/index.htm

This is particularly important as you only receive funding if you receive at least 4% of the vote in the electorate (which I personally think is too high a threshold and should pay out at lower numbers than that). So make sure you preference your favourite first.

  1. It does signal to those who won what the electorate wants. There's a reason our parties are somewhat moderate, even the Liberals, because our voting system leads to candidates with the broadest appeal winning. The major party vote is at an all time low, and I would be surprised if this doesn't change Australian politics for the better (as long as though minor parties aren't One Nation, lol)

Now, in practice, it's not working perfectly. But really, we keep electing Labor (and historically more so the LNP) because people keep preferencing them, not because the voting system doesn't work well. It works great.

The voting system isn't at fault there, it's that we have a corporate media landscape, mostly owned by a far right foreign national (Murdoch), and lobbying like crazy.

What we can be hopeful for, though, is that we're not handicapped in our voting system.

I get you, it feels like you can make little difference, but it's not the voting system that's to blame for this.

[–] timmytbt@sh.itjust.works 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Who said voting was to blame?

Lack of choice … and lack of anyone with the balls to govern for the benefit of the majority, and our futures … that’s the problem!

The process (voting) may be sound, but it’s still, shit in, shit out.

[–] MisterFrog@aussie.zone 1 points 3 hours ago

I'm just saying, there are options. Quite a decent amount really, by international standards. And some are pretty decent, just none perfect.

I just think the notion that there are no options of political candidates who would tax the oligarchs, isn't true.

You asked what party could you vote for to tax them? I provided them. You said the preferences flow to Labor. And I said, well yeah, that's the way the system works!

I feel like you're shifting the goal posts here.

I do agree with you that things are largely cooked, though, and share your frustration that we don't just grow some balls and tax companies and individuals like we once did.

I too look forward to a future where the people treat the government as their collective will, and not a force to be resisted and mistrusted, so we can get on with improving the material lives of all of us.

Hope this message finds you at the end of a relaxing weekend, if you had the pleasure of having it off work.