Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is again to the Prime Minister, and I refer to his answer to my previous question. I refer again to the report that I referred to in the last question Fuel industry consultants, Fueltrac, said:

Queensland motorists are paying at least two cents a litre more for petrol than they should.

Fueltrac managing director Geoff Trotter said this was because major oil companies were adding an extra margin to wholesale fuel prices at refineries.

Mr Trotter said the average price of petrol to motorists used to be nine cents a litre lower than in Sydney and Melbourne because of the Queensland Government’s subsidy.

But for the last six months, the price has been running at only six cents lower.

Mr Trotter said:

We’ve noticed that the wholesale price the oil companies charge in Queensland are in the order of two cents a litre higher than what they are down in Melbourne for instance.

Again I ask the Prime Minister: how can this occur? Why, Prime Minister, won’t you instruct the Treasurer to direct the ACCC to formally monitor the price of petrol and, in particular, the circumstances related to this report as they pertain to fuel prices in Queensland?

John Howard (Bennelong, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer, in answer to that question, with even more specificity to a statement made by the chief executive of the Australian Automobile Association, Mr Harris. He was interviewed on ABC radio on Thursday 24 May, 2007. He was asked about the powers of the ACCC. In answer to a question from Ross Solly about the powers being used by the ACCC:

Are they using them enough?

he said, amongst other things:

... more so than they used to.

He went on to say:

Graeme Samuel—

that is, the chairman of the ACCC:

... has made a few public statements in recent times that have had the desired effect. I would have to say, though, that our monitoring of fuel prices at the present time has seen nothing that is out of the ordinary as far as the cycles are concerned. That is not to say that petrol is not expensive. It is expensive. I am not saying it is cheap. The cycles that are going on at the moment are reflective of Singapore prices, they are reflective of the exchange rate prices, and we are not seeing expansion of margins that would suggest that there is any gouging going on.

This is the spokesman for Australian motorists. Normally, these spokesmen tend to give you the worst possible side of the argument. They tend to exaggerate claims. They tend not to understate the concerns of motorists, because it is their job to speak for Australian motorists. I have noted what the Leader of the Opposition has said, and I would say to him that that is not the view of Mr Harris. He is about as credible a representative of the Australian motorist as we could find. Nobody likes high prices—in Queensland or in New South Wales or Victoria or in Western Australia. I have not heard any policy from the opposition that would make petrol prices cheaper. All I have heard is some cheap populism on the subject.