Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Deputy Leader of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Hansard source

He promised prices would go down. That is right, member for Moncrieff: he promised that he would put downward pressure on prices. But what do people feel? They feel they have been the victim of a cruel hoax. A cruel hoax has been played on the Australian people. As I go around the country and talk to people, they tell me that they can feel the higher petrol prices and that they feel deserted. They were expecting action and, instead, they got a bureaucrat and an inquiry.

It is interesting to look at some of the quotes from the media about this issue. One Labor media statement on 10 June said that their sole purpose was to ensure ‘that Australian families are not paying one cent more to fill up their car than they should’. As with much that comes out of the Labor Party, we were left wondering what was meant by ‘pay no more than they should’. There is no detail about what people should pay or how the petrol commissioner would decide what they should pay or how he might enforce what they should pay. The clear implication is that, as soon as elected, the members opposite deserted the battlements on this fight and merely appointed this petrol commissioner.

We now have a petrol commissioner: Pat Walker, the former Western Australian Commissioner for Consumer Protection and Prices. I wish him well, I really do. The motorists throughout regional, rural and metropolitan Australia also wish the petrol commissioner well. They hope that he will be able to do what the Prime Minister and Treasurer imply—wave a magic wand and somehow give relief to these rising fuel prices. Unfortunately, I have to say to motorists, ‘Don’t hold your breath.’ At the time of his appointment, Mr Walker said:

I don’t underestimate the degree of difficulty in this assignment but I believe I can make a difference ... It’s not an easy task.

This guy is sounding a lot less like the high-octane superman promised by the Prime Minister. It was interesting to note the testimony given to the ACCC inquiry into fuel prices by an organisation called Informed Sources. They said that they had made an analysis of the average price in Perth before and after the introduction of FuelWatch. FuelWatch was a scheme introduced by Patrick Walker. At the time of the introduction of FuelWatch, Informed Sources said that this analysis indicated that the introduction of FuelWatch increased the price of petrol in Western Australia by an average of 1c to 1.5c a litre. How is that going to affect consumers and motorists in Western Australia?

We have also heard a lot about the issue of climate change. We have heard members opposite being very vocal about climate change. It is an important issue, but there are some cost of living ramifications for families. There are some very big ramifications from it. There is a potential increase in the cost of electricity. There is a potential increase in many of the products that families buy. There is also a potential increase in the cost of petrol. It was interesting to see a report, which states:

The federal government has refused to rule out the possibility that its proposed emissions trading scheme will force up prices.

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