Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

We should not digress. No government ever has done more to support alternative fuel than ours and we are now seeing results. By 5 pm last night, the AusIndustry hotline had fielded some 3,800 calls from motorists looking for information on the LPG initiative that the Prime Minister had announced the day before. Yesterday, BP announced that it was increasing ethanol sales in Queensland, with a projected target of an eight-fold increase.

The Australian government is keen to offer as many choices as practical to the motorist. We believe that these reforms to the retail petroleum sector will aid those choices and help make them more affordable to motorists. We cannot support the opposition’s amendments, which serve no purpose. We commend the bill to the House.

Question put:

That the words proposed to be omitted (Mr Martin Ferguson’s amendment) stand part of the question.

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