Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer and Revenue) Share this | Hansard source

I will not even do justice to the member for Blair’s weak and poorly researched speech, but I will congratulate him on speaking on a bill relating to petrol prices in this very week when petrol prices are such an important issue and are so much at the forefront of the minds of all Australians. I do note, from having a look at the speakers list, that he was the only member on that side game enough to do so, but I may return to that point.

It is a pleasure to speak to the Petroleum Retail Legislation Repeal Bill 2006 and to provide support to the amendments moved by the member for Batman and seconded by me. This is a very important piece of legislation and a piece of legislation that is long overdue. The regulatory regime which controls the petroleum retailing sector in Australia is now 26 years old. It was forged in an era when we had nine major oil companies, and of course now we have four. It was forged at that time because the then government was concerned about market concentration in the petroleum market. I repeat, then we had nine majors, now we have four.

Some people might think we would be looking at actually strengthening the act rather than repealing it but, unfortunately, it is not that simple. This act is now antiquated. It really does not mean anything much because, over the years, the major oil companies have effectively been able to circumvent the act, particularly by way of creative multisite franchise arrangements. But, just as importantly, we now have operating in the market the partnership arrangements between Coles and Shell, and Caltex and Woolworths. Of course, the Petroleum Retail Marketing Sites Act, which is designed to limit the number of service stations the oil companies can run directly, does not cover Coles or Woolworths. So we have a big problem.

Labor supports the idea that we repeal the two acts—that is, the sites act and the franchise act, which supports it—to put in place a more modern and more effective regulatory regime. This should have happened at least five years ago. Why did it not happen five years ago? Because of government incompetence and the government’s failure to show leadership and to secure amongst industry and consumer representatives a new regulatory structure that was acceptable to all involved. Those involved include those at the industry, refinery, wholesale, distribution and retail levels and those who represent consumers and who are naturally concerned about the impact and the efficiency of the regulatory regime and its ability to hold petrol prices as low as possible and to protect independent service stations as best as can be achieved. Competition is everything in keeping petrol prices down. We cannot sit back and allow a few major oil companies to drive any competition out of the market. In this country we need an independent sector, as we see in many American and European markets, which keeps the major oil companies and their partners, such as Coles and Woolworths, honest. It took a lot of work to get a regulatory regime, which of course keeps all those players happy.

I am not suggesting the government is there yet, and I know there remains a lot of concern, particularly amongst organisations like the MTAA, representing independent service station operators, but I suspect the government has secured as close an agreement as it can achieve. But it should have happened five years ago. Certainly, it should have happened a long time before now. This bill is about consumers, it is about small business and it even goes to Australia’s competitiveness, because fuel in Australia is an input to production in both the manufacturing sector and the services sector. It is also about international competitiveness and it is something we should have dealt with long before now.

There is a caveat contained within the member for Batman’s second reading amendment. The opposition has indicated its support for this bill on the basis of the government’s belated promise that it will finally do something about the Trade Practices Act. I have talked about the importance of competition in keeping petrol prices down. We cannot have competition unless we have a strong Trade Practices Act. It is well known to all watchers of this industry that we have not had a strong Trade Practices Act for some time now. We have not had, in particular, a sufficiently strong section 46 of the Trade Practices Act, which of course contains the main provisions for protecting against misuse of market power, therefore protecting and enhancing competition.

We say to the government: we intend to support the bill this time around, but we want to see the whites of their eyes, we want to see the detail of the amendments they intend to finally and belatedly move to the Trade Practices Act so we can be sure that this new regulatory regime, in partnership with those changes to the Trade Practices Act, is sufficient to protect consumers and Australian small business. Make no mistake about it: Australian families, Australian small business and indeed Australian business generally are hurting as a result of high fuel prices. Australian families are hurting to the tune of between $40 and $50 a week. Australian business are hurting to the extent that they are starting to question their viability. Yet, despite that, the Prime Minister and his Treasurer say there is absolutely nothing they can do about petrol prices.

We on this side acknowledge that high petrol prices are driven largely by the high price of crude oil. We accept that. But, when crude oil is high, it is all the more urgent for governments to act in the short term, the medium term and the long term. The Prime Minister and his Treasurer can act today in a couple of ways. They can bring forward those amendments to the Trade Practices Act and the Treasurer can sign this letter, which I have with me today, which would refer to the ACCC the power it needs to properly investigate petrol prices in this country. So, Mr Prime Minister, while you and your Treasurer are present, I appeal to you on behalf of Australian families and Australian business to take that short-term action. But there is more, Mr Prime Minister, that you can do. I also appeal to you and your Treasurer to embrace the Leader of the Opposition’s fuels blueprint and start doing something about energy independence in this country, weaning ourselves off our dependence on Middle Eastern oil—

See this speech in context