Ian Macfarlane (Groom, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Deputy Speaker—and, as this is my first opportunity at the dispatch box to do so, can I congratulate you on your election to Deputy Speaker. It has been some time coming, but good always prevails and right always comes to the fore.

I will be moving an amendment to this bill in the consideration in detail stage, as circulated, which particularly relates to the LPG component of the bill. I will now speak to that. Whilst the coalition and opposition in general supports the amendments proposed under the TLAB, we certainly do not support the sections of the bill as they relate to the introduction of a huge compliance cost, particularly to small business, in relation to the taxation and the levying of an excise on gaseous fuels. These fuels are LPG, LNG, CNG—or compressed natural gas. These fuels are of course not only clean-burning fuels, and therefore something that is helpful in terms of the environment—and I would have thought those in government would understand that—but, secondly, these are fuels which Australia is overly endowed with; in fact, we are exporters of these fuels. We export LNG from the North-West Shelf and we have an excess of natural gas in its forms of compressed natural gas and liquefied natural gas. Australia is heading towards being the largest exporter of that gas in the world.

What we are short of in Australia, unfortunately, is liquid fuel—that is, crude oil or condensate—and so it makes absolutely no sense to me, or to Australians in general, that we introduce an excise on these gaseous fuels, yet this is what the government did last year. So desperate for money are they that they will tax anything that doesn't move, and if it doesn't move they push it and then tax it. We know that they are desperate for cash, we know they spend money day in, day out that they cannot bring back into balance—and, of course, we saw last week with the MYEFO that they are able to actually get themselves in such a position where they are so desperate for money that they are now going to tax businesses, including small businesses with a turnover of $20 million or more. They are going to make them pay their income tax not quarterly but monthly. So they are going to make them pay 14 months' tax in 12 months. This just highlights how out of control the spending is by those who sit opposite us in government.

The requirements and compliance regime being introduced under this TLAB bill and the excise being placed on gaseous fuels by this government is extraordinary red tape. They come into government and say that they are going to ease the compliance burden; but, as we know, all they have done is increase it and increase it and increase it. There is compliance burden on the small businesses that I talk to, whether they are in my hometown of Toowoomba or whether they are in Whyalla where I was last week. Geez, they remember the Minister for Trade there well—not nicely, but they remember him well. I doubt they will ever forget him.

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