Evidence
Timeline
Forty years of Australia's gas tax: every law, review, project and minister, filterable by era and government.
1984 to 1990: Origins
Key moment
Two economists propose a resource rent tax
The idea
Ross Garnaut and Anthony Clunies Ross set out the idea: let a project recover its costs and a normal return, then tax the extra profit, the 'rent'.
Review
Key moment
The deal: a 40% tax on super-profits
40%
The Hawke government announces a resource rent tax for offshore oil and gas. By December 1987 it is law: costs and a return first, then 40% of the profit above that.
Law change Hawke government
The PRRT laws receive royal assent
The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Act 1987, which sets the 40% rate, becomes law.
Law change Hawke government
North West Shelf starts exporting LNG
Australia's first LNG plant, on the Burrup Peninsula in WA, begins exporting. Its gas stays outside the PRRT until 2012.
Project milestone Hawke government
The PRRT collects its first revenue
The PRRT first raises revenue in the 1989–90 financial year.
Market and prices Hawke government
1990 to 2007: The oil years
Bass Strait comes into the PRRT
The Bass Strait oil and gas fields off Victoria move into the PRRT from 1 July 1990.
Law change Hawke government
The PRRT takes a third of project revenue
34%
In 1990–91 PRRT equalled about 34% of the revenue (assessable receipts) of the projects it covered.
Market and prices Hawke government
PRRT collections peak
almost $2.4b
PRRT revenue peaks at almost $2.4b in 2000–01, then begins a long decline.
Market and prices Howard government
2008 to 2015: The LNG boom
Henry review: a 40% Resource Super Profits Tax
40%
The Henry Tax Review is released and the Rudd government announces a 40% Resource Super Profits Tax on mining and petroleum profits.
Political Rudd government
The RSPT is replaced by the MRRT and a wider PRRT
The Gillard government drops the Resource Super Profits Tax for a narrower Minerals Resource Rent Tax and an extension of the PRRT.
Political Gillard government
Pluto LNG starts production
Woodside's Pluto LNG begins production, the first of a wave of new LNG projects.
Project milestone Gillard government
Key moment
The PRRT covers every project, onshore and offshore
All projects
From 1 July 2012 the PRRT reaches all Australian oil and gas projects, including the North West Shelf and onshore coal seam gas.
Law change Gillard government
The MRRT is repealed; the wider PRRT stays
The Abbott government abolishes the Minerals Resource Rent Tax, but keeps the PRRT's extension to all oil and gas projects.
Law change Abbott government
First LNG from coal seam gas leaves Gladstone
Queensland Curtis LNG loads its first cargo at Gladstone, the world's first LNG made from coal seam gas.
Project milestone Abbott government
2016 to 2022: The paradox
Gorgon ships its first LNG
Chevron's Gorgon project, off WA's Pilbara coast, sends its first LNG cargo to Japan.
Project milestone Turnbull government
Government orders a review of the PRRT
As PRRT collections fall while LNG exports climb, the Turnbull government announces a review of the tax.
Review Turnbull government
Key moment
The Callaghan review, and a trim to the uplift
LTBR + 15 to LTBR + 5
With PRRT revenue falling as LNG exports soared, Mike Callaghan reviews the tax. In 2019 the uplift on unused deductions is cut and onshore projects leave the PRRT.
Review Morrison government Turnbull government
Ichthys ships its first LNG from Darwin
Inpex's Ichthys LNG project ships its first cargo from Darwin.
Project milestone Morrison government
Government responds to the Callaghan review
The Morrison government announces lower uplift rates and the removal of onshore projects from the PRRT.
Political Morrison government
Uplift cut and onshore projects removed
LTBR + 5
From 1 July 2019 most new unused deductions grow at the bond rate plus 5 points, not plus 15, and onshore projects leave the PRRT.
Law change Morrison government
2023 onward: Reform
Government announces the deductions cap
Responding to Treasury's Gas Transfer Pricing review, the Albanese government announces a 90% cap on PRRT deductions for LNG projects.
Political Albanese government
Key moment
The 90% cap: LNG projects must pay something
90%
After the Gas Transfer Pricing review, deductions for LNG projects are capped at 90% of their revenue, from 1 July 2023. At least a tenth of revenue is now taxable.
Law change Albanese government
The cap becomes law
Parliament passes the Treasury Laws Amendment (Tax Accountability and Fairness) Act 2024, whose Schedule 5 is the PRRT deductions cap.
Law change Albanese government
Key moment
The first crack: the cap makes LNG projects pay
$552m
In 2024–25 the cap forced about $552m of PRRT: roughly three in every ten dollars of the $1.87b assessed that year.
Market and prices Albanese government
The deduction pool still stands at $280b
$280.1b
At 30 June 2025, PRRT projects had $280.1b of unused deductions carried forward, up from $274.8b a year earlier.
Market and prices Albanese government
What you can do
Ask your MP four questions#
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