John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yesterday at Peak Hill near Parkes in my electorate, there was a tragic accident on the grounds of a service station. My sympathy is with the family of the man who died as a result of that accident. Police were told that the explosion occurred while two trucks were involved in a refuelling procedure. Children from two schools had to be evacuated. But it was great to see recognition today for the local firefighters, who were praised for their bravery and their quick action in bringing the blaze under control. It was a very, very tragic accident.

That accident brings to mind the issue of fuel prices. In my electorate of Calare, which is certainly the largest in New South Wales, and right around Australia, the price of fuel and the price of petrol in particular—because the excise obviously does not deviate in it—is an incredible cost to everybody. In an electorate like Calare, it is not uncommon for people to travel 100 kilometres every day to and from work. That is a huge cost even for people who might have good jobs, because the cost of transport today makes a big hole in their wages. In the fight for survival in the bush, the cost of fuel is an enormous issue. It is an enormous issue for those involved in production. Farmers are now paying up around $1.90 for diesel just to put a crop in, and that is no small thing, especially in times of drought. A school bus operator with a fixed contract, in my electorate, is absorbing the rising cost of diesel, which at last report, as I said, was $1.90 and going skywards. His business is becoming very, very marginal, if not unprofitable, because that sort of cost is not built in as a rising factor in his contract.

It is all very well to bring in Fuelwatch, but quite obviously the government knows it will not have a flat effect but will have a negative effect for the people in country areas because the scheme will not be imposed on them. I do not think it will have any effect anywhere else either, and it will probably have a negative effect for users around Australia, particularly in areas like mine. Thank heavens it is not being imposed upon us.

I think this government should think very hard about what Brendan Nelson suggested the other day. The idea of a reduction of 5c a litre has had water thrown on it and been ridiculed put on it by those opposite, but I do not think they travel very far. Somebody in my electorate who travels 100 kilometres a day to work and back would save $150 a year on that basis—and many people do travel that distance. You have only got to go from Molong to Orange or from Narromine to Dubbo and you are going to be doing 100 kilometres a day. A saving of $150 a year may not be very much for those who do not use a car much or do not travel very far when they do, but I can assure you that, for people in my region who travel thousands of kilometres sometimes just to go to the hospital, it is not uncommon to travel 300 kilometres on a round trip to see a doctor.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It’s a legitimate tax cut, isn’t it?

John Cobb (Calare, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the Leader of the Nationals has just said, it is trying to help people, but those opposite do not like it because it is not their idea. Fuelwatch will cost them nothing and give them nothing. It is good spin, but it certainly will not help the people of Calare. Something serious has to happen to help people. In an area like mine, where travel is part of everyday life—whether it is for pleasure, whether it is for business or whatever it might be—something must happen to relieve the pressure on working families—the favourite phrase of the Prime Minister. There are no harder-working families than the ones in the biggest electorate in New South Wales, Calare, and I think they deserve more than they are getting. They need more than someone watching their fuel prices. Let us give them the five cents, because for a lot of them it is 150 bucks a year—and it might be a lot more than that for many of them.