Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I have been going for six seconds, Mr Deputy Speaker. I believe I have five minutes to answer the question. I will try not to take the full five minutes so that honourable members opposite get a fair go, but I will take as long as it takes to answer the question and I will take a little bit more than six seconds if it is okay with the honourable member for Cowper. The government took the advice of the independent regulator, which showed downward pressure on prices as a result of Fuelwatch. It also showed that fuel prices in Perth have on average been lower than the eastern capitals every month for the first five months of this year. I am aware of the research that the honourable member refers to and I am also aware of who conducted it. I will simply say that we take independent research; we do not take research that is conducted by people who are not independent. We take all evidence into account—as we did. The honourable member for Cowper may choose to outsource his research to others who are not independent; we do not.

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