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

More price rises courtesy of the members opposite. The report goes on to say:

Asked today whether the scheme would force up petrol prices, Senator Wong today refused to rule it out.

She refused to rule out higher petrol prices. The report continues:

The Australian people recognise the scheme would not be painless, she said.

I find that those remarks offer very little solace and very little comfort to Australian families trying to put fuel in their car and trying to go about their business.

I also came across a document from Caltex which looks at the carbon trading regime and what impact that might have on the price of fuel for motorists. Here are some of the examples that were given in the document: at a carbon price of $10 a tonne, the increase in the cost of fuel would be some 2.4c a litre for unleaded petrol; at $20 a tonne, 4.8c; at $30 a tonne, 7.2c; and at $50 a tonne, 12c a litre. I think it is imperative that the members opposite come clean with struggling families and give them some indication of the carbon regime they plan to introduce and what it will do to the budgets of families.

Then of course there are groceries. We are all aware of the magical wand that is going to be waved by the grocery inquiry. But it is interesting to look at the action of the government in relation to grocery prices. What was the thing they did most recently to reduce grocery prices?

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