Australia has squandered its unparalleled resource wealth

Wednesday 13 August 2025

For years, MB has argued that the federal government’s projected budget deficits, expected to last at least a decade, are largely self-inflicted.

The fact of the matter is that Australia could have all of the budget revenue that it needs if it merely copied nations like Norway and Qatar and taxed its resource exports properly.

Ross Gittins has belatedly jumped on this line of thinking, arguing that Australia is “losing billions a year from untaxed gas”:

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About the author

Leith van Onselen is Chief Economist at the MB Fund and MB Super. He is also a co-founder of MacroBusiness. Leith has previously worked at the Australian Treasury, Victorian Treasury and Goldman Sachs.