Louise Markus (Greenway, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to raise my concerns over the Rudd government’s lack of action on fuel prices. The Prime Minister and the Labor Party went to the last election telling people they would do something about the rising cost of fuel, the rising cost of groceries and the rising cost of living. What have they done? They have paid a whole lot of lip-service. We have a grocery inquiry and a petrol commissioner. We have seen the Labor government roll over while the big banks put up interest rates independently of the Reserve Bank’s advice.

When the Australian public voted for the Labor Party, they voted for them because they trusted them to do what they said they would do and make it easier for working families. Labor have done the opposite. They have done nothing about one of the key election commitments: petrol prices. While residents in my electorate go to their local petrol station because they know it can be cheaper than the next, the proposal put forward by the Labor Party will stop competition by locking in prices for 24 hours by introducing Fuelwatch. We have a government that refuse to listen to their own departments—not just one department’s recommendations but four. We also have two government ministers against the scheme. Why do they argue against it? Because they know this scheme will make consumers worse off. Residents in my electorate of Greenway take advantage of what is well known as ‘cheap Tuesday’. The government will argue the point that some people have to fill up twice, but the point is this: people have a choice. Even the previous Labor candidate for Greenway wrote to the paper this week, saying:

... when will our politicians stop playing around the edges and face the fact we are in crisis ...

He went on to say:

Yet politicians seem hell bent on political populist responses—

And wait for it, Madam Deputy Speaker—

And watch petrol prices there (courtesy of Mr Rudd).

He continues:

For goodness sake, let’s get real. Is this the best we can do?

We on this side of the House ask the government the same question: what are you doing to ease the pressure for Australians, besides providing lip service? The former Labor candidate writes, and this is the best part:

We need all sides of government and all tiers of politics to stop the populist approaches, roll up their sleeves and confront the real challenge.

Here we have a former Labor candidate questioning the job of his own party’s government. And so are the rest of us. In my electorate of Greenway, as in many electorates in Western Sydney, people work close to the city. These people often have to travel to the city on major arterials and incur a toll. That is $102.20 per week in tolls, which, based on average weekly earnings, equals 11 per cent of their net pay. Last week people filled up a 70-litre tank on cheap Tuesday at a cost of $105.45, which equals nearly 12 per cent of their net pay based on average weekly earnings. This means that a resident in my electorate is paying $207.65 for petrol and tolls, or 23 per cent of their take-home pay each week just to get to and from work.

The coalition has put forward proposals to help ease the pressure, and now I call on the Rudd Labor government to get serious about helping Australians and do more.