Kerry Bartlett (Macquarie, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, let not the opposition give us any of their humbug and hypocrisy about their ‘real concern’ about introducing biofuels. Their opposition is clearly on the public record.

I come to the third thing that we have done. We hear this rhetoric from the opposition about giving the ACCC real powers to monitor petrol prices. They already do that—3,600 sites around this country. They have the power. We have already had fines of $20 million for price fixing around the Ballarat region and just last year in fact there were almost half a million dollars in fines for two Brisbane service stations for price fixing. They were prosecuted under section 45 of the Trade Practices Act. So do not give us this nonsense, as we have heard from the other side, that the government has not been doing anything. We have been, in spite of the policies of the opposition and in spite of the opposition to some of these measures that we have heard from those in the Labor Party.

But the very significant thing is the quality initiatives announced by the Prime Minister yesterday to do more where we can. We cannot do anything about international prices and everyone, even the Labor Party in their rare moments of honesty, will admit this. But we can do something around the edges to try to take the pressure off prices. And yesterday’s package of $1.57 billion to be spent over the next eight years—that is, $1,570 million over the next eight years—has a range of measures to help where we can. The first one of these—the one I am very pleased with—is the subsidy of $677 million to assist the conversion of cars to LPG. We had already planned for a subsidy of $1,000 for new cars starting in five years time. We have brought that $1,000 subsidy forward to start immediately. As well, there will be a $2,000 subsidy for motorists who want to retrofit—that is, convert—their existing vehicles to LPG.

This has the potential for very significant savings because, as anyone knows, LPG generally retails for less than half the price of petroleum. For a motorist with a six-cylinder car doing about 20,000 kilometres a year, this would mean a saving, if their car were running on LPG, of around $1,600 a year or more than $30 a week. People doing more mileage, such as those in my electorate of Macquarie—people living in the Blue Mountains and people living on the Hawkesbury who often travel significant distances to work—would save more than that because they would be doing more miles. So this is a very positive measure. The cost of retrofitting is around $2,500 to $3,500 and up to $4,000. This subsidy of $2,000 will help a lot. It will significantly reduce the break-even time, from what might have been 18 months to two years, to probably less than a year. So a motorist, with the help of this subsidy converting—retrofitting—his or her vehicle to LPG, should be able to make enough savings to pay that off in less than a year.

I think this is a very positive measure. Certainly, it does not suit everyone—it does not suit everyone’s motoring needs, it does not suit every vehicle; I am advised that roughly 30 to 40 per cent of vehicles would be suitable for retrofitting—but it will help enormously those whose vehicles it suits. It gives another option and it shows that this government is serious—and serious to the extent of $677 million—in trying to take the pain off motorists where we possibly can. There are also other, environmental benefits—an estimate of about 15 per cent fewer greenhouse gas emissions from the use of LPG.. That is significant. There will be fewer toxic pollutants that come with petroleum. The other very obvious benefit is that it will reduce, albeit at the margins, our dependence on oil and petroleum imports. We are a net exporter of LPG. We produce just over three million tonnes a year and we consume about two million tonnes. By going down this path we will also reduce our reliance on imports. So it is a win for motorists, it is a win for the environment and it is a win for our current account deficit.

What do we hear from the other side? Just carping and rhetoric, instead of getting behind this very positive measure. The Prime Minister announced a couple of other measures yesterday that are also very important—$17.2 million over the next three years to encourage service stations to take up the challenge of increasing the availability of E10 fuels. That is, $10,000 up front for those service stations which are willing to convert their service stations to provide E10—that is, ethanol blended fuel—and, if they then meet particular targets of sales of ethanol blended fuels, another $10,000 to assist them in that. That is a very real incentive to help rapidly spread the availability of ethanol blended E10 fuels. Again, that is a very positive measure.

The third measure announced yesterday was the extension of the Renewable Remote Power Generation Program—that is, to take the pressure off those remote communities that are dependent on diesel for their power generation. With diesel prices rising rapidly in recent years, there is much greater expense and pain for those remote communities trying to generate their own power. Again, this measure of $123.5 million, over the next four years, to take up alternative energy sources—wind power, solar et cetera—will help take the pressure off some of those remote communities.

The fourth measure announced yesterday increased support for exploration—an extra $76.4 million over the next five years to Geoscience Australia for their offshore seismic exploration program to try to find other sources of petroleum and indeed natural gas. In addition, there will be another $58.9 million over the next five years for onshore exploration. In all, there is a lot of extra money for exploration to try to increase Australia’s self-sufficiency and reduce our dependence on petroleum imports.

The fifth measure, and by no means least, is a much greater focus on examining alternative sources of fuel—exploring geothermal options; gas to liquid research, which offers enormous scope, given Australia’s abundance of natural gas; and coal to liquid research et cetera. This very substantial package of $1.57 billion over the next eight years goes a very long way towards addressing the pain that motorists are feeling as a result of high petrol prices. We cannot do anything about soaring world oil prices. As I have said, they have increased from $15 a barrel to $75 a barrel in just the last seven years. World oil prices have risen by almost 17 per cent just in the last 12 months. Those world market supply and demand forces will no doubt continue to put rising pressure on world oil prices. We cannot do anything about that, despite the rhetoric that we hear a little from the opposition.

We can help where it is possible and these measures announced yesterday are, admittedly, around the margins, but they are serious measures by the government to try to reduce the pain being felt by motorists. I commend these proposals put by the government. I am sure that they will help substantially by creating extra options for our motorists. It is disappointing to hear the other side criticising for criticism’s sake, with their typical negativity. They ought to be getting behind the government’s measures in supporting us in trying to reduce the pressure of rising fuel prices in this country.

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