Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I am pleased to be able to speak on this motion on petrol prices as it gives me the opportunity to set some facts straight in this debate and to identify the long-term solutions available to us to better manage the cost of transport fuels, some of which were identified by the member for Batman in his contribution. There is no doubt that petrol prices are high and, as members of parliament, we are aware of the difficulty that petrol prices cause for home budgets and in the running of small businesses. If we are not aware, we should be getting out more often and engaging with our constituents or family members and friends, who are never backward in telling it as it is.

It does concern me to see petrol prices at their current high levels, with expectations that they will go even higher. In saying this, it is also important for us to understand the real cause of these increases, not simply respond to the political rhetoric of those who look to the short-term fix for every problem we confront. Implicit in the motion moved by the member for Holt is a belief that the Howard government is responsible for the high petrol prices facing Australian consumers. This is simply not the case. The real reason for the high cost of fuel facing Australian motorists has been clearly stated by the member for Holt’s Labor colleague the member for Rankin, who wrote in the Canberra Times last year:

Australia’s record petrol prices have one cause and one cause only—high world oil prices. The OPEC oil-producing countries are pumping oil out of the ground as fast as they can, but not as fast as the world wants to use it. China is burning oil products for its industrialisation as if there is no tomorrow.

Unfortunately, there are high petrol prices all around the world. The fact that we are ranked fourth lowest for petrol and sixth lowest for diesel among the OECD nations is no cause for celebration. However, it does place into perspective the fact that, as a government, we do not control that price; the price is determined by the cost of crude oil on the world market.

Australia is not self-sufficient in oil; we are now importing about two-thirds of our oil and we are at the mercy of world oil prices. In fact, the federal government is the only government in Australia that has taken action to reduce the cost of petrol at the bowser—we reduced the excise on petrol from 44c to 38c a litre and, furthermore, capped the excise at that level. Since that cap, the price of petrol has risen from 80c to $1.40 a litre. What is often not mentioned is that the 38c excise does not increase as prices increase. I acknowledge that the GST collected on behalf of the states also forms part of that cost, and that component does increase with petrol price rises. If criticism needs to be made, then let it be levelled at the state premiers.

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