The federal government would acquire a 30 per cent equity stake in Australia’s “miracle” new gas ventures under One Nation, in a Norway-inspired proposal. Addressing the Australia Energy Producers conference in Adelaide on Thursday, Senator Hanson said the right-wing populist wanted “more gas”, not less, and was proposing a “genuine partnership with the gas industry, from exploration through to production and decommissioning”.“One Nation’s policy will drive more exploration, more development, and more production without pushing out smaller Australian producers,” she said.“We will provide a 30 per cent rebate on genuine oil and gas exploration in commonwealth waters. In exchange, the Commonwealth may take up to 30 per cent equity in issued production licenses. “The commonwealth would be responsible for its costs as an equity are not, and in turn be entitled to a proportionate share of the production. “These costs will include participation in decommissioning, ensuring responsible end of life management is planned from the outset to protect the environment and taxpayers.”Senator Hanson said ownership rights would be “100 per cent owned” by a new commonwealth special investment vehicle and the Australian National Wealth Investment Corporation, which will “direct its share of oil and gas to Australia’s greatest benefit”.Any profits made on Australia’s equity ownership would placed in a sovereign wealth fund to “reinvest and grow”.Senator Hanson the program “would not be some socialist takeover”, and would provide predictability to foreign investors, claiming Japan and South Korean, two of Australia’s biggest gas importers, were “looking elsewhere because of the policy instability in Australia. Senator Hanson lashed out at the proposal for a 25 per cent gas export tax popularised by Canberra Senator David Pocock, the Greens, and the Australia Institute. “These activists simply want to destroy our gas industry and push their green agenda,” she said.Speaking to the media later, Senator Hanson said the proposal was “a policy I have been thinking about for sometime”. “It was based on also what Norway did and ownership of their own gas. They’ve got nearly $3 trillion in a wealth fund for the people of Norway,” she said. “What have we got? Nothing.”One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce said the Australian people would become a “part owner in the resource”.Pressed on what the cost would be, Mr Joyce said savings would be found in climate funding. The Coalition has promised to fastback new gas proposals in recent months, while Labor earlier this month which it would set a new mandatory gas reservation requiring exporters supply 20 per cent of their total production to the domestic market.‘Totally different’Senator Hanson denied any dissonance between her announcement and South Australia One Nation, which scored big in the March election.One Nation in the state are opposing the Labor government’s bill to end the blanket ban on hydraulic fracture stimulation.“My policy is to do with Commonwealth waters, not on land,” she told members of the media.“This is an issue for my members in South Australia. I do not interfere. They’ve made a decision on that. That is their decision.”Senator Hanson said she did not want to see fracking in the state’s southeast, where One Nation holds the seat of MacKillop, because it was land for “farm production, that’s agricultural land and on a water table”.She said her understanding was the bill would fail.“He (Premier Peter Malinauskas) hasn’t got the support of the Greens, Libs, One Nation at all,” she said.“So, he’s not going to get it through, what he’s wanting to do. This is a political dirty trick play. That’s what he’s done.”
Pauline’s Norway-style bet on ‘miracle’ gas
The federal government would acquire a 30 per cent equity stake in Australia’s “miracle” new gas ventures under One Nation, in a Norway-inspired proposal.











