Steve Gibbons (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

In its first term of government, the Howard government abolished the Prices Surveillance Authority, whose role was to monitor excessive price increases and prosecute people who indulged in price-fixing activities. Now, after ignoring the results of this disastrous decision, the federal government, in commissioning yet another investigation into petrol prices, has adopted a strategy directly from the Yes, Minister manual on how to deal with difficult problems. When a government is confronted with a problem that requires a difficult solution and the government is aware of the solution but does not have the courage to implement it, it sets up an inquiry and arranges for that inquiry to discredit all other inquiries on the same issue. Sir Humphrey Appleby himself could not have arranged it any better.

Motorists throughout Australia, and particularly in regional Australia, do not need another inquiry to tell them that they are being comprehensively fleeced in the prices they pay for fuel—that is, petrol, LPG and diesel. As I outlined in a submission to the inquiry by the Senate Standing Committee on Economics into petrol pricing in Australia in August 2006, the average retail price for petrol in my electorate of Bendigo rose from 89c per litre in September 2003 to $1.45 per litre in June 2006. That is a massive rise of 62.9 per cent. On the June 2007 Queens Birthday long weekend the price was around $1.39 per litre.

Finally, after 11 years as Treasurer, Peter Costello has for the first time apparently told the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, the ACCC, to look at anomalies between the price of benchmark Singapore oil and the price motorists are paying to fill their vehicles. So why, after 11 years of ignoring what is a major cost of living problem for most Australians, has the Treasurer finally acted—or at least appeared to have acted—on this vital issue? Because Labor announced a major policy on combating artificially inflated fuel prices and because we are almost on the eve of a federal election. The Treasurer has been stung into action because Labor, as always, has set the agenda on the important policy areas that affect most Australians.

I hope this is a genuine inquiry, designed to identify anomalies in the pricing structure of our fuel and to recommend real solutions, not just the usual arrogant spin and obscure statements designed to hoodwink the Australian public into believing the Howard government is actually doing something worthwhile on this vital commodity upon which so many Australians depend in their everyday lives. I have every confidence that the ACCC, if left to its own devices, will come up with a comprehensive report and recommendations to appropriately deal with the problem. The question is: will the Howard government have the courage to implement any recommendations? After 11 years of inaction, it does not look promising.

In my submission to last year’s Senate inquiry into petrol pricing, I urged the Howard government to immediately exercise its power under the Trade Practices Act and direct the ACCC to fully investigate petrol pricing in Australia and ensure transparency, competition and fair fuel prices for all consumers. I also urged the Howard government to develop a comprehensive, strategic framework, including tax incentives, promotion of research and new technologies, and the necessary infrastructure to ensure that Australia rapidly repositions itself to be less dependent on imported petroleum and a hostage to wild fluctuations in the world price of oil. Nobody believes the Howard government’s spin and distortion in ducking and weaving on the likelihood of artificially inflated fuel prices, including its favourite piece of dishonesty that (1) the ACCC has the powers to protect consumers from unlawful anticompetitive conduct and unlawful market practices through the provisions of the Trade Practices Act and (2) the ACCC monitors the daily average retail price of unleaded petrol, diesel and automotive LPG. What absolute rubbish!

There is a world of difference between observing the retail price of petrol in newspaper ads and over the internet, and vigorously investigating, using powers to subpoena documents and witnesses, in order to fully understand the pricing process and profit margins within the automotive fuel industry. The proof of this inquiry being fair dinkum will be a recommendation to dramatically expand the powers of the ACCC. If this is not included in the recommendations, then this will be nothing less than just another Sir Humphrey Appleby piece of deception solution—the same as all the others over the past 11 years.

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