Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. With the international price of oil at record highs, how does the government’s FuelWatch plan stack up against any alternative promises?

Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Petrie for her question. As the Prime Minister was saying before, global oil prices are on the rise and that is pushing up domestic petrol prices, putting a very considerable strain on family budgets. That is why we on this side of the House are so committed to doing something practical with FuelWatch. Those on the other side of the House are fond of saying that watching petrol prices does not make them go down; that is what they have been saying. They should know: they sat in cabinet and watched them go up for 12 years. That is what they did—for 12 years they sat there and watched them go up. And they did not care what was happening to working families during that period.

Now they pretend they have an answer. The shadow Treasurer spoke for 15 minutes in the House this morning when we were debating our proposals for FuelWatch. In that 15 minutes the shadow Treasurer did not once mention their proposal to cut excise—not once! The Leader of the Opposition is up here talking about it but his policy is not supported by the shadow Treasurer. He has done it again. The shadow Treasurer has dropped another clanger this morning. He said this at the doorstop interview this morning: ‘The new modelling from the ACCC is as inconclusive as the old modelling.’ That is what he said this morning at the doorstop. He was asked a question by a journalist, who said, ‘Have you seen it?’ Mr Turnbull answered, ‘No.’ He is an expert on modelling he has never seen. His arrogance knows no bounds. Those on that side of the House do not have an alternative proposal. The only proposal they have is to blow a $22 billion hole in the surplus and put further upward pressure on inflation, interest rates and prices for average families.