Peter Dutton (Dickson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Finance, Competition Policy and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers) Bill 2008 and the National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008. The Labor Party at the last election promised cheaper petrol. Delivering on this promise has become the biggest political headache for this government.

These bills have been introduced into parliament on the back of some clever and tricky politics by this Prime Minister. Four key economic departments have advised against the scheme, including his own department, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. At least one of the government’s ministers has argued against the scheme, and we strongly suspect that the Minister for Finance and Deregulation also argued against this scheme. We also suspect that the Minister for Small Business, Independent Contractors and the Service Economy argued strongly against this scheme. Those departments know that this scheme potentially will result in higher petrol prices for people in the eastern states.

Fuelwatch will undoubtedly make consumers worse off as the smart consumers who take advantage of the weekly discounted specials will no longer have that opportunity. Fuelwatch reduces price certainty. Outside of WA consumers know when petrol is cheapest. They do not know that to be the case when it occurs in Western Australia. The data published in the report of the ACCC inquiry in December 2007 into the price of unleaded petrol shows that the petrol markets in Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide operate in a very similar manner. The cheapest day to buy petrol is Tuesday when around 20 to 24 per cent of petrol is sold. The most expensive day is Thursday when around 10 to 12 per cent of petrol is sold. Almost two-thirds of petrol was sold on the four days where the average daily prices were below the average weekly price.

Perth has a much flatter and longer cycle, which does appear to make Perth motorists worse off. The average volume sold each day was relatively stable. Due to the two-week cycle, it is not obvious which days each week are cheapest, although on average Wednesday is the most expensive and Sunday is the cheapest. More importantly though, 40 per cent of petrol was sold on the three days when average prices were below the weekly average, and 60 per cent was sold on the four days when prices were above the average. That is a salient point and it needs to be reiterated. In Perth 60 per cent of petrol was sold on the four days where prices were above the average. In the eastern states—that is, in the markets of Sydney, Brisbane, Melbourne and Adelaide—the cheapest day is Tuesday, when around 20 to 24 per cent of petrol was sold, but two-thirds of petrol was sold on the four days when the average daily prices were below the average weekly price. That is a remarkable statistic and it is something that this government has chosen to ignore.

The regulatory impact statement that was released with the bill raises at least 10 areas of concern over the scheme, including the following: firstly, independent Western Australian retailers suggest that FuelWatch has harmed the competitive position of independent operators as it allows large operators, including refiner-marketers, to gain a competitive advantage through their great capacity to adopt sophisticated pricing strategies across different metropolitan markets; secondly, that the ACCC analysis is not conclusive; thirdly, it is possible that the introduction of Fuelwatch—this is the advice from the regulatory impact statement—will have anticompetitive effects, and whilst consumers may benefit from potentially greater levels of competition and reduced search costs, these benefits may be offset by potential adverse anticompetitive effects. This advice was provided in the regulatory impact statement that was tabled in parliament with this legislation last Thursday.

It is interesting to note as part of this debate that, when I asked the Minister for Finance and Deregulation in question time some two hours before the tabling of the legislation, his very clear advice to me was that the regulatory impact statement would not be tabled. What this demonstrates is a government full of hubris and arrogance, a government that is staring in the face the facts of this matter, and that is that they have received advice from those four key economic departments and the initial advice from the ACCC that this was not a good scheme for consumers. It is amazing when you read through the detail of the regulatory impact statement to see the length of their criticism of this legislation before the parliament. It demonstrates that this is a government which is intent on providing spin over substance. They are more concerned with the media cycle than they are with the petrol cycle. They are more concerned with what journalists think than with what Australians who fill up at the bowsers think. The average family, for whom it now costs $100 to fill the family Commodore, will remember back to November only a few short months ago, when the Prime Minister—the then opposition leader—promised the Australian people that he would bring lower petrol prices to them and therefore some relief to their family household budget. How deceived those people must feel today.

Not only must Australian motorists feel deceived; so too must business and particularly small independent retailers in the petrol sector, who must be wondering why on earth the government has arrived at such a disastrous position. We also understand from the regulatory impact statements and the advice from Treasury, the Department of Resources, Energy and Tourism, and other departments that it will cost businesses up to $4,000 annually to comply with the Fuelwatch legislation—or $18.7 million per annum.

The coalition supports—and there is no question about it—consumers being armed with as much information as possible to assist them to purchase cheaper petrol. There is no question about that. That is a stated aim of the coalition. We will support consumers to ensure that they can find the cheapest petrol, but we do not support the price-fixing elements of the Fuelwatch scheme. That is the stark difference between where we stand on this issue and where the ALP stands. They have chosen a quick fix political stunt. They have chosen to let down the motorists they promised during the election campaign last year to support with cheaper petrol prices. And at the moment they are being found out as the opportunists they truly are.

The other interesting part to the debate is the backflip of the ACCC, so much so that there is no doubt in my mind that the ACCC has felt the government breathing down its neck to support the Fuelwatch scheme. Nobody can explain the stark difference in the ACCC’s position between December of last year and this current debate. It is something that we need to examine further and it is something we would like some more information on.

Debate interrupted.

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