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.
- Date
- 1 January 1984
- End date
- 18 December 1987
- Headline figure
- 40%
In 1984 the Hawke government began consulting on a resource rent tax for new offshore petroleum projects, driven by Resources and Energy Minister Peter Walsh with Treasurer Paul Keating. The Petroleum Resource Rent Tax laws passed in December 1987.
The deal: companies deduct everything they spend, and unused deductions grow each year (the uplift) so they get a fair return first. After that, 40% of the profit goes to the public. New offshore projects pay the PRRT instead of royalties and excise. Bass Strait and the North West Shelf stay on the old royalty and excise system.
Source: Petroleum Resource Rent Tax Act 1987 (No. 143, 1987); Treasury, PRRT Review submission by the ATO (2017)