Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry, Tourism and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

I congratulate the member for Batman on his speech on the Liquid Fuel Emergency Amendment Bill 2007; there was some good, solid structure there. I remind the member for Batman that this government is not about setting mandatory targets in relation to ethanol. We appreciate his support. I also take the opportunity to remind the member for Batman about a program the federal government instituted involving $776 million for LPG conversion. We see that as another way of extending the life of energy availability within Australia. The program runs over eight years. Also to consider in that is the revenue forgone because of the reduced excises that we would claim on that. I also remind the House about the $138 million that we are expending through Geoscience Australia on further exploration. Again, I congratulate the member for Batman on his comments and appreciate his support on the bill.

The bill we are debating today will make a number of commonsense changes to the operation of the Liquid Fuel Emergency Act. It will finetune our liquid fuel emergency response regime, providing greater economic and administrative efficiency and bringing our emergency arrangements up to speed with our modern economy. The government acknowledges that in the vast majority of cases the normal operation of the market will be sufficient to deal with any shortfall in liquid fuel supplies. Some disruptions may indeed cause prices to rise and will probably result in shortages in some situations. Only the most extreme circumstances will require government intervention. The Liquid Fuel Emergency Act provides us with the tools to respond in such a situation. This bill simply sharpens those tools. The changes introduced by this bill will encourage fuel users to take steps to improve their own fuel supply reliability. These are commonsense steps to sharpen contingency management practices and encourage better planning. The bill makes appropriate provisions for compensation, gives the government sufficient flexibility to deal with the inherent uncertainty a national liquid fuel emergency would cause and clarifies the expectations of the government with regard to anticompetitive conduct in the event of an emergency.

The bill also tidies up a number of technical problems that have afflicted the act as a result of the passage of time. These changes have been the subject of an independent review by ACIL Tasman and an inquiry by the Senate Standing Committee on Economics, which is supportive of the bill. Extensive consultation between the Australian, state and territory governments and industry stakeholders has occurred. I am pleased to say that this bill has the support of all participants on the National Oil Supplies Emergency Committee, which is charged with providing advice to government on the planning for and management of a prospective national liquid fuel emergency. The changes that this bill will make to the Liquid Fuel Emergency Act are sensible, rational and justifiable. Therefore, I commend this bill to the Main Committee.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that this bill be reported to the House without amendment.

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