Bob Baldwin (Paterson, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight I rise to speak on the Taxation of Alternative Fuels Legislation Amendment Bill 2011, the Excise Tariff Amendment (Taxation of Alternative Fuels) Bill 2011, the Customs Tariff Amendment (Taxation of Alternative Fuels) Bill 2011 and the Energy Grants (Cleaner Fuels) Scheme Amendment Bill 2011. My contribution to the debate tonight will be confined to three areas: first, that this legislation will do nothing but increase the cost of living because in essence it raises over $518½ million over the forward estimates; second, that the bill is bad for the environment because it is increasing the tax revenue on the cleanest form of combustible energy that we have; and, third, that the bill will destroy jobs and destroy an industry.

This Labor government has proposed new fuel taxation regimes which will destroy the Australian ethanol, biodiesel and LPG industries. The Gillard Labor government proposes to phase in by July 2015 a 25c per litre excise on ethanol, a 19.1c per litre excise on biodiesel, a 12½c per litre excise on LPG and a 26.13c per kilogram excise on LNG and CNG. The ethanol excise will initially be offset by a production grant but that grant will reduce to zero by 1 July 2020. Existing protection against cheap and subsidised ethanol imports will also be phased out. An industry that is very close to my own heart in my own electorate—the biodiesel industry—will receive no protection, even though an Australian customs dumping inquiry has found that subsidised biodiesel imports from the United States are damaging our industry and interim dumping securities have been imposed.

The Europeans have placed countervailing duties on US biodiesel, which receives a dollar a gallon subsidy from the US government. It is impossible for Australian producers to compete against the might of the US Treasury. The US ethanol industry is subsidised to the tune of $6 billion a year and the US also imposes a 54c per gallon tariff on imported ethanol. So much for a free trade agreement between Australia and the US. If the US and the Europeans are prepared to place duties on subsidised and dumped fuels, why is the Australian industry being exposed to unfair competition?

This excise on LPG will increase the cost of the fuel by 12½c per litre. This is hypocrisy at its worst. This Labor government has said much about the need to reduce pollution. In fact, this government wants to introduce a carbon tax to reduce pollution but at the same time, with its vein of hypocrisy which knows no bounds, it is going to increase the cost by 20 per cent of LPG, the cleanest form of burning combustible fuel there is. It is a 12½c per litre increase in the cost of LPG.

Back in 2006, I happened to be sitting in the ministry room as the Parliamentary Secretary for Industry, Tourism and Resources when the Howard government decided, because the cost of fuel had hit over $1.60 per litre, that it needed to promote cheaper and alternative forms of fuel. So a subsidy program was put forward for people to convert to LPG. Most of that take-up was by tradies and by families who could not afford the cost of fuel. So here is what we have. We have this Labor government slapping families fair in the face with an increase in the cost of fuel. These people have invested in the conversion of their vehicles to LPG, with an expectation that the fuel would be cheaper.

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