Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

The minister is gesticulating. I am sorry for the minister, as he has to catch an aeroplane. I have to catch an aeroplane too. But we are entitled to speak on these matters, which are of great importance to the nation. The latest one is that the world is going to starve. I will tell you that the only people who might starve are some of the rich beggars in Australia who happen to be associated with the oil companies—which are making $23,000 million more profit than they were making three years ago. Shell and Caltex own the oil wells. The cost of production is the same today as it was three years ago. They are making 300 per cent more profit than they were making three years ago and are kidding us that that is not an incentive to go out there and tell a pack of lies—the latest one being that we are all going to starve to death. I am not going to speak any further on this, except to say that the Brazilians have an intelligent government. Their intelligent government delivers to them carbon dioxide reducing ethanol petrol at 74c a litre. The Americans have carbon dioxide reducing ethanol at 81c a litre. Poor muggins Australians are filling up our cars at $1.50 a litre. We may have a number of things, but we do not have clever governments in this country.

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