Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Well, that is a start. I am pleased to see that the minister is moving towards addressing some of these issues. I hope he takes them seriously. Even though these amendments will probably get voted down, along party lines, I hope the issues will be addressed in another fashion.

The member for Rankin raised the issue of the independents creating competitive pressures in the petroleum industry. I draw to the minister’s attention some of my concerns. Last week the government announced some significant changes in energy policy. Two of the fuel companies, Caltex and BP, announced they were going to cut the price of E10—ethanol 10 per cent fuel—at certain service stations across Australia. Many people assumed this was a cut in the wholesale price. There has been a 3c cut in the retail price at some service stations. I have been buying E10 fuel from a small independent retailer in a small community who retails Bogas, or Caltex E10 fuel, and has for about six or seven years. I called in there the day after this great announcement that the price of E10 was being dropped by 3c, having heard the government commend itself for not having had to mandate the use of E10 to achieve this great outcome of the 3c discount in price. My retailer, who has been selling ethanol for at least six to seven years, and buying from those same companies, had just received an invoice increasing the wholesale price of E10 by 1.8c a litre. That highlights some of the underlying issues we should be debating, not only in terms of petroleum products, but where the might of the corporation can overcome the competitive aspects for the independent players in the field. Some of those issues may be raised again when the media ownership debate comes forward.

The member for Rankin also said that we need to examine the amendments the member for Hunter has put forward to see whether we have the opportunity to look behind the scenes at the behaviour of the fuel companies and how they operate. The member for Hunter mentioned a moment ago that there is no real transparency in terminal gate pricing. There is great inconsistency in the way wholesale prices are reported. (Extension of time granted)

The consumer is in a haze when trying to ascertain the retail and wholesale price levels of fuel, the country/city issues, the terminal gate price issues, the various margins that apply at certain times in the week and on public holidays, et cetera. There is no real transparency in those issues. The member for Rankin said we should have an instrument that can look behind the scenes at that behaviour. In this place in recent months we have changed the electoral laws so that we cannot look at the behaviour of some of the major corporations in terms of their political activities by way of donations. I do not mean to get off the track—

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