John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I stand by everything I said on the Channel 10 program. As for the projections made by the NRMA, my recall is that that was based upon the most recent spike in world oil prices produced by the mishap at the BP installation in Alaska. It is easy for people in the situation of the NRMA and, indeed, of many other organisations to alarm people with projections. We are all painfully aware that world oil prices are pushing up the cost of petrol at the bowser. Those in the community who peddle simplistic solutions—and, incidentally, I do not include the NRMA in that description, but there are others—are only serving to make a difficult situation for our fellow Australians more difficult.

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