Media Release: Tax the Rich — Greens call on Labor to raise revenue from profit-greedy industries

The Greens are calling on the NSW Labor Government to be far bolder in raising revenue from those industries raking in profits at the expense of the health and prosperity of people across NSW.

The Greens are particularly pleased to see a Government in this State finally willing to pay public sector workers a fairer wage, and to end the era of exploitation that existed under the previous Coalition government. That said, it’s not fair for the Chris Minns Labor Government to frame what is otherwise an austerity budget as the price that had to be paid for that wages correction.

Quotes attributable to Abigail Boyd, Greens NSW Treasury spokesperson:

“Today’s budget was always going to be a difficult one for the NSW Labor Government, given the condition in which they inherited the State’s finances and the need to repair 12 years of Liberal-National financial mismanagement and cruelty.

“However, it’s incredibly unfair to play sectors of the public off one another by blaming long overdue public sector wage increases for what is otherwise a lack-lustre budget.

“Labor have found themselves trapped in a prison of their own making, managing the budget within the bounds of a relatively stable revenue base. What the people of NSW need right now is a Government prepared to finally stand up to vested interests and end the special treatment that has allowed these industries to avoid paying their fair share for far too long.

“With just a handful of modest revenue measures, targeting those who can most afford to pay, we could be bringing in an additional $2bn to the state coffers every single year. That’s $2bn that we could be spending on accelerating the clean energy transition, on protecting precious habitats, on ensuring the viability of essential community services, and on building up the industries of the future.

“This Budget is notable for failing to direct significant additional revenue towards protecting and rehabilitating our environment, instead throwing relatively small crumbs towards protecting koala habitat while allowing the most environmentally-destructive industries to continue as if the Coalition Government was still at the helm.

“There is also next to nothing meaningful in this Budget to address the domestic violence epidemic, no improvements to funding for animal welfare agencies, and slim pickings when it comes to making any dent on the housing crisis.

“When it comes to the greatest crisis we are facing right now - climate change - the measures announced to accelerate the energy transition are just far too modest. Deforestation has not been reined in, and we continue to be hugely concerned at the prospect of Origin benefiting from as-yet-unspecified amounts of public money to continue polluting without consequence from Eraring.

“The Budget’s own analysis points out the economic peril we face from a slow, disorderly energy transition - but Labor seem willing to permit this slow, disorderly and market driven future to unfold.

Media Contact: Angus Hoy 0416 130 969

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

NSW is missing out on tens of billions of dollars. By introducing a progressive coal royalty structure similar to the one in Queensland, we would have raised an extra $20 billion last year.

The NSW Government owns and controls, on behalf of the people of this state, the rights to the minerals and materials that naturally occur in NSW land.

Huge fossil fuel companies are only able to extract and sell these commodities with the consent of the State. It’s time they paid a fair price for that privilege.

The fossil fuel industry has made hundreds of billions of dollars out of their cosy relationship with governments. Granted permission to extract and sell coal, these large multinational fossil fuel corporations pay just over 7% in royalties back to the people of NSW – keeping the rest as mega-profits for themselves. These companies have a track record of taking more than their fair share and leaving communities suffering and stranded with poisoned groundwater, devastated landscapes and a stranded workforce when it suits their business models.

Globally, the hyper-inflation of fossil fuel prices driven by price-gouging opportunism and war profiteering from Putin’s invasion of Ukraine has delivered record windfall profits to these already obscenely wealthy corporations. In the last year, NSW coal exports totaled over $70 billion dollars, but the people of NSW will only see about 7 cents in every dollar, or about $6 billion dollars of that amount.

Rather than going toward schools, hospitals and public infrastructure, billions of dollars went into the pockets of multinational mining corporations. The Greens believe there should be more money for schools and hospitals and less for mining billionaires.

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

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Media Release: Tax the Rich — Greens call on Labor to raise revenue from profit-greedy industries

Quotes attributable to Abigail Boyd, Greens NSW Treasury spokesperson:

TAX SUPERPROFITS TO PAY WORKERS MORE

Sign our petition calling on the NSW Labor Government to increase coal royalties to invest in communities.

Will you sign?

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