The alcohol excise debate has taken a surprising turn, following the revelation that Australians pay more tax on beer than international gas companies pay on the tens of billions of dollars worth of our offshore gas they export.

During a Senate Estimates hearing, Senator David Pocock asked Treasury Deputy Secretary Shane Johnson: “Would it be accurate to say that the tax on offshore gas exports, PRRT [Petroleum Resource Rent Tax], is still giving us less revenue than the tax on beer?”

PRRT is a special levy designed to make sure Australians benefit from the extraction of the country’s gas and oil resources, but progressive think tank the Australia Institute has described the system as “broken”.

Analysis by The Australia Institute shows replacing PRRT with a flat 25% tax on gas exports would raise more than $17 billion a year. The analysis also shows

• Gas exports worth $170 billion paid no royalties and no PRRT over the last four years.
• Australians pay four times more in HECs/Help repayments than the gas industry pays in PRRT.
• Australian nurses pay more tax than the gas industry.
• Many gas exporters continue to pay no tax and PRRT payments are at a three-year low.
• The Australian Government gives gas exporters more than half the gas they export royalty free.

By contrast, Norway has been taxing the profits of its oil and gas sector at 78% since 1996. In 2024 alone this tax raised approximately $91 billion. The money is transferred each year to Norway’s Government Pension Fund, which is now worth $1.9 trillion. This equates to around $350,000 for each of Norway’s 5.4 million citizens or $1.4 million for a family of four.

But back to Senate Estimates … Johnson replied to Pocock that taxes on beer were expected to be $2.7 billion in 2025-26, while taxes from PRRT were expected to be $1.5 billion.

Pocock (above) said: “How do we live in a country — one of the biggest gas exporters in the world — and we’re getting more tax from beer than PRRT?”

He added that the figures made “no sense to me and I think many, many Australians”.

Furious commenters on social media agreed, with one noting: “Imagine if we taxed PRRT properly, we wouldn’t need an alcohol tax.”

Political commentator I F@#king Love Australia was even more outspoken: “Where the f@#k is the Royal Commission into the mining, coal, and gas industries that have been raping this country for decades?”

As for the ever-increasing tax burden on the drinks industry, Australia has one of the highest alcohol excise tax rates in the world, which increases twice yearly in line with inflation. While the Australian Government froze the tax on draught beer in August 2025 for two years, it has remained in place for packaged beer.

On 2 February 2026, the tax on packaged beer with an ABV exceeding 3.5%, for example, rose to $63.75 per litre. Meanwhile, the excise on spirits rose to $107.99 per litre of pure alcohol.

Spirits & Cocktails Australia executive director Steven Fanner said: “This latest rise will mean around $32 of the price of a standard 700mL bottle of gin or whisky is tax going straight to the Government.”