Federal MP Ed Husic said failing to implement a 25 per cent tax on gas exports in May's federal budget would be a lost opportunity to increase revenue at a time of economic uncertainty.
"People think that a lot of these multinational gas companies have had an obscenely sweet deal for way too long, and the country has been poorer for it," he told ABC Radio on Tuesday.
"This is something that, for average Australians, it speaks to them, and that we should be the champions of this change."
Plans to implement such a tax have not been announced, but there has been growing support from environmental groups to business executives to put it in place for the budget.
A Greens-led Senate inquiry, which started on Tuesday, will look at the merits of such a tax.
Natural gas is Australia's third-largest export earner, with sales reaching about $65 billion in the previous financial year.
Defence Industry Minister Pat Conroy downplayed the calls for a new tax from his Labor colleague.
"Ed's a backbencher, and has the right to make commentary like that, and I respect Ed's contribution," he told ABC TV.
"There's lots of speculation around what will be and what won't be in the budget, or what should be in the budget, and I'm going to let the treasurer announce that."
Resources Minister Madeleine King previously said the government's tax policies had not changed, while flagging the importance of the gas industry.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said while a better deal was needed on gas exports, a tax was not the way to do it.
"A 25 per cent tax will be the end of the industry, it will stop investing," he told ABC Radio in Perth.
"That's what these people want, by the way, they want the end of the industry. And they want one of Western Australia's most important export industries gone."
As Prime Minister Anthony Albanese struck agreements earlier in April with countries in Southeast Asia for supply of LNG while Australia receives oil amid volatility in the Middle East, concerns had been raised a gas tax could impact those deals.
Australian Conservation Foundation chief executive and former Greens leader Adam Bandt said the government needed to stand up for its own interests.
"Other countries in the region are very happy with the current arrangements, because they're making more money out of Australian gas than the Australian people are now," he told reporters in Canberra.
"People have had absolutely enough, and it's time for Australians to get a fair share of the resources that they own."
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