Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The price of petrol is an issue that affects everyone whether it is reflected in the cost of filling our cars or in the cost of our food and other goods in shops which depend on fuel as an input. It is particularly serious for those living in rural communities where public transport is not an option. A rise in the price of petrol bites particularly hard on rural businesses where the use of transport, often over long distances, is a fixed and unavoidable part of carrying on trade in a large part of Australia. I therefore welcome the decision to have the ACCC hold an inquiry into the recent differences between international and domestic prices.

The ACCC has always had the option of advising the government that an inquiry was advisable but, clearly, until now, it has not felt the need. I should note that the ACCC currently monitors petrol, diesel and LPG prices at around 4,600 of the approximately 6,500 retail sites around Australia. Petrol prices are closely linked to the international price because petrol is an internationally traded commodity, and if we are not prepared to pay that price we simply will not get the product.

Despite their rhetoric, Labor has yet to produce real solutions to the issue of petrol price fluctuation and I welcome the fact that we will have an inquiry that will confirm or allay suspicions with regard to this matter. This motion by the member for Prospect will do nothing to bring down the price of petrol, not even by one cent. It is just another piece of grandstanding by the opposition latching onto a populist cause. The opposition leader woke up one day and his focus groups told him it was not Monday or Tuesday but Petrol Day and he should say something about petrol. If they were ever to come to power they would find that they would have to deliver some real outcomes, and that is far different from just making empty and ineffective promises.

They say the government has not been doing its job on petrol prices, but let me remind them that one of the key conclusions of the Senate Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into this topic last year was:

... the petrol market shows the characteristics of a strongly competitive market, with sufficient competitive forces to place downward pressure on retail petrol prices.

Do we really need Labor to remind us that we buy and sell petrol in an international market? Do we really need Labor to remind us that in a competitive market prices can go up as well as down? Do we really need Labor to remind us that Australia has the fourth lowest petrol prices in the OECD? Although Labor is in opposition in this House, it could do something about petrol prices. It could get its cronies in the states and territories to do something about petrol prices. But have they been doing that? They have been quite silent on that.

All credit to Queensland; it subsidises the cost of fuel by just over 8c a litre. But that is just Queensland. No other state comes close to that. If they were really concerned about the price of petrol, they would get on the phone to their Labor mates in the other states and say: ‘Match Queensland. Subsidise the petrol as they do in Queensland.’ But they are silent. All states except Queensland have the powers to put some control in the pricing of petrol. They do in New South Wales, Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and the ACT. They can impose price controls on declared fuels. But we have silence from the Leader of the Opposition, even on Petrol Day, with regard to that matter.

In the face of what Labor seem to call a crisis that apparently demands action, what have they done? They have created a nebulous figure, the petrol commissioner. I am not sure what the petrol commissioner would ever do in reality. I presume he will make a lot of noise, emit a lot of hot air and probably do nothing. He will no doubt be a Labor hack or some union crony. The moral we can draw from this is: Labor in opposition is good at talking but they are not much good at acting; Labor in power will not deliver.

We hear a lot about the tax on petrol, so let us look at the coalition government’s record in this regard. Petrol prices would be 17.2c a litre higher than they currently are if it were not for the decision of this government to eliminate the indexing of the fuel excise. That is an annual saving of some $448 for a family using 50 litres a week.

While Labor wring their hands and talk about petrol pricing, they come up with the rather nebulous concept of a petrol commissioner, who would do nothing to reduce the price of petrol. They are all hot air and talk on the issue of petrol prices. They care very little about the Australian people in this matter except when their focus groups tell them it is Petrol Day. They are unable to act. They are unable to deliver real solutions; just look at the states.

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