Brendan Nelson (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I draw the Prime Minister’s attention to the fact that petrol has increased on average by 28c a litre on his watch and I ask: what difference has the appointment of a petrol commissioner made? Going forward, could you explain to Australians how watching the price of petrol brings it down?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On the question of watching, what occurred on the opposition’s watch when they were in government for over 12 years was a series of increases in the price of petrol, including an increase in the oil price by one-third in the 12-month period prior to the last election. That is the first point. The second point is that what the government has said consistently is that when it comes to enhancing the competition policy powers available to consumers we will do that which is possible. We said that we would establish a petrol commissioner and we have done that. We said that we were committed to the introduction of Fuelwatch. Those opposite oppose it.

We believe that these are modest positive measures that assist motorists to make an informed choice about where to get the cheapest petrol on a particular day. I say to those opposite: what is wrong with a motorist in any city in the country knowing on a particular day where they can get the cheapest petrol? What is wrong with them having access to that information? What we do know about those opposite is that they want the big oil companies to have that information but they want consumers not to have that information.