Labor needs Green Senate votes: but demand abolition of fuel tax credits

The Greens want fuel tax credits abolished, as Labor tries to win leader Adam Bandt’s support for its Climate Change Bill.

The Australian Greens have promised to protect the fuel tax credit for farmers, but say they will keep pushing the Albanese Government to end the “fossil fuel subsidy” for mining giants that claim back about $3.3 billion annually.

The last time the credit was under attack was in 2014, when the National Farmers Federation joined the Minerals Council of Australia to defend any clawback by the then Abbott Coalition Government.

But this time the Minerals Council is on its own, after Greens leader Adam Bandt told The Weekly Times “we will be keep pushing to scrap the public handouts to big mining corporations, but keep the diesel fuel rebate for farmers.”

The Greens want the $3.3 billion of fuel tax credits the mining industry claims each year abolished.

The move leaves the mining industry to fight alone, just as the Albanese Government tries to gain Greens’ support to get its Climate Change Bill through the Senate, which would legislate Labor’s emissions reduction target of 43 per cent by 2030.

Labor has just 26 senators in the 76-seat upper house, which means it needs the Greens’ 12 votes, plus an independent, to gain the majority of 39 needed to pass the Bill.

Asked if the Greens’ senate support for the Bill was conditional on the government phasing out fuel tax credits for the mining industry, Mr Bandt’s office said “negotiations are continuing” and “big corporations don’t need public handouts”.

Labor Treasurer Jim Chalmers is already desperate to find budget savings, trying to pay off a trillion-dollar debt and offset the impacts of soaring inflation on Australian households.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is also trying to find $20 billion to fund his Re-wiring the Nation initiative, which involves upgrading the nation’s constricted electricity transmission network to funnel more regional renewable energy into major cities.

Asked how the $3.3 billion being funnelled into fuel tax credits for miners should be spent, Mr Bandt’s office said “instead of subsidising billionaire mining corporations, this money should be put towards getting dental and mental health into Medicare to help with the cost of living crisis”.

THE FUEL TAX CREDIT

The fuel tax credit scheme allows agriculture, tourism, mining and other off-road industries to claim back what was a 44.2 cent-a-litre excise duty on fuel up until March 30, which was expected to deliver about $8 billion in rebates in 2021-22.

The excise is meant to fund the nation’s road network, which is why farmers and miners are able to claim the credit on fuel used in off-road vehicles, pumps and other on-site equipment.