Sophie Mirabella (Indi, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to speak on this matter of public importance moved by the member for New England—although one could be forgiven for being confused. It sounded more like an oral report of a study trip or perhaps an adjournment debate on why the government should mandate the inclusion of ethanol. His choice of topic was quite strange, as he was talking about the government’s reluctance to act, when he admitted that it is not to say that the government has done nothing. He is confused in himself and is perhaps confused about the appropriate forum in which to push his hobbyhorse and his version of the magic solution—the silver bullet—to the current petrol problem that we are facing right across the nation.

He also mentioned that the second part of his solution was to reduce some of the excise. Everyone in this House should know that there is only one government that has credibility with regard to the reduction and freezing of fuel excise—that is, this coalition government. The member for New England would know that the further cutting of excise would have very little impact on individuals and families at the petrol pump. A one cent cut in excise would cost revenue $380 million, and what practical effect would that have on Australian families? Absolutely none. It is so cheap and it is so easy for the magic little Independent dwarfs to come up and say: ‘We have a magic solution. We can fix it overnight.’ Well, they cannot, but they have the freedom to be able to say anything, promise anything and be extremely confident that they will never have the burden or responsibility of delivering.

Let us look at the cut in excise. It was the Howard government that reduced excise by 6.7c per litre so that the price of petrol need not rise with the introduction of the GST. It was the Howard government that again cut fuel excise by 1½ per cent in early 2001 and it was the Howard government that actually abolished the half-yearly automatic indexation of fuel excise.

What would have happened if the Labor Party had stayed in power and these measures had not been introduced? There would not have been any cut to excise and there would not have been any freezing of indexation. What would have happened? The excise on petrol would not be 38c per litre, as it is today; rather, it would be 54.9c, some 44 per cent higher than the current fuel excise. The member for Hunter stood there shamelessly claiming that the government needed to wake up to import dependency. I have a message for the member for Hunter: it is the Labor Party that needs to wake up from the policy-free zone it has been living in for such a long time. It is time for the Labor Party to look at the mistakes that marked its 13 years in government.

It was the Labor Party that introduced indexation of the excise in the 1980s and it was the Howard government that abolished it. The Labor Party did not just introduce indexation; on occasions they actually raised petrol excise beyond the automatic indexation. During its last term in office, the Labor Party raised petrol and diesel excise by 5c per litre through additional indexation. That is absolutely shameful. It is no wonder that there are very few of them here—only one member of the opposition, with her head bowed. These are very hard facts to swallow.

This government not only took measures to freeze and cut excise back then but also, in the intervening period, took a considerable number of measures—and is currently looking at other measures—to ease the pain on motorists. There is no easy fix. The member for Hunter and others on the other side have said that in black and white: there is no quick fix.

We live in a world where we all know that the high price of petrol is set by world supply and demand. In reality, dealing with this very complex issue is not as simple as the purported silver bullet. If it were that simple to fix, it would have been fixed already.

I have just completed a very lengthy electorate tour traversing the more than 28,000 square kilometres of my electorate of Indi. Yes, the price of petrol is certainly an issue. But people in the electorate, particularly country people, are smart enough to know why the price of petrol is that high. They know there is no easy fix. Yes, there is a desire to accelerate research and the possible use of alternative fuels, but people are not going to be fooled by the purported easy answers put forward by the member for New England and others.

Interestingly, it was only yesterday that the Labor Party, through the member for Hunter, acknowledged that the price of petrol is inextricably linked to the world price of crude oil, as has previously been acknowledged by the member for Rankin. The member for Rankin has also said:

Nor is it true that an oil cartel is artificially spiking petrol prices ... the petrol retail market is highly competitive.

The Labor Party make a lot of noise about petrol, but they have absolutely no solutions. The Leader of the Opposition is not going to touch the excise system. As recently as April, he stated:

If you ask me for what my priority is in taxation reform it’s not in that area of excise.

Yesterday the Leader of the Opposition spoke about monitoring. This is a very interesting point as petrol stations throughout Australia are monitored daily. Let us look at the ACCC. What did the people entrusted with monitoring the price of fuel say at the current petrol inquiry, which is the 53rd inquiry into petroleum products across all jurisdictions since 1976? They have not come up with a silver bullet, but the member for New England certainly has. The fact is that Graeme Samuel did say the following:

We have, in accordance with the general provisions, our normal investigative powers to investigate any suggestion or evidence of anticompetitive behaviour in the petroleum industry and, insofar as it is raised with us or we detect it, then we have all the investigative powers, including powers to demand documents and to call witnesses before us under section 155, and our other investigative powers to deal with anticompetitive behaviour.

It was only the other day that the Treasurer announced that the ACCC will have its powers extended to also monitor ethanol blended fuel prices. Mr Samuel was asked by Senator Joyce whether it was correct that the ACCC can investigate, conduct raids, call witnesses and get documents without ministerial or government intervention. He replied:

Absolutely, yes.

We can see some of the results of the ACCC’s action from 2005, not that long ago, when it investigated companies in Ballarat for price fixing and fined them over $20 million.

All these magic solutions and all these empty cries in the policy vacuum that is the Labor Party have never produced a solution to high petrol prices, and still those opposite offer no particular solutions. All we really have from the Leader of the Opposition and the Labor Party is nothing—no solutions, just the usual Beazley blunder: a big air balloon floating into the policy void and losing hot air as it floats along.

As a Victorian I have a particular interest in looking at what has happened in Queensland. Unlike Queensland, Victorians do not get any relief from the GST revenue from petrol. Everyone knows that all the GST goes to the states, but yesterday Premier Bracks was not showing any signs of forgoing his revenue to assist motorists when he said:

We accept that the current arrangements for the GST are universal. They apply across the board ... We’ve backed and supported it.

There are no solutions from the state Labor Party either. This government has contributed significant funds to research and development in alternative fuels. It has contributed $37 million in biofuel capital grants and $56 million in ethanol production grants. It has given a commitment that ethanol will remain excise free until 2011. It introduced the important ‘E10 suitable’ label. Ethanol and biodiesel blended fuels are now available at over 400 outlets around Australia. And the government has been extremely active in creating the right environment to develop an Australian gas to liquid— (Time expired)

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