Russell Matheson (Macarthur, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Small Business. Will the minister update the House on the steps the government has taken to ensure Australians pay fair prices for their goods and services, like petrol.

Bruce Billson (Dunkley, Liberal Party, Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Macarthur for his question. This government understands that fuel prices are a significant cost for many households in Australia. I am pleased report that today the ACCC has delivered its first quarterly petrol monitoring report following a new direction from this government. This is the first report under a new direction that recognises that our government knows that market forces alone are not sufficient in every circumstance to deliver efficient fuel pricing and to make sure that consumers' interests are looked after.

This report reveals great news for motorists, which I thought the whole parliament would have been interested in. The report reveals that petrol prices in our five largest cities decreased by 28c between June and December of last year and that they fell a further 14.6c a litre in January—the lowest price since January 2009. The ACCC found that petrol price reductions in the five largest cities were very much consistent with the fall in international crude oil prices and in the price of refined petrol.

But we also found that in not all cases was that savings being passed through in full and in a timely way to our regional centres. This direction issued by this government enables the ACCC to dive deeply and to have a close examination of what is happening in those markets where we are not seeing full value passed through. ACCC chairman Rod Sims said today that the combined reduction in fuel prices in capital cities of 42.7c a litre 'would be worth $1,000 a year to the average household if sustained'.

The ACCC is doing its job under a new direction from this government. The ACCC is able to do its job because, unlike the previous government, we are giving the ACCC the resources it needs to do its business. What we found under the previous government was that, while they were changing leaders and changing ministers—five in 15 months—the actually forgot to give the resources to the ACCC to do its job properly. With five ministers in 15 months, you can understand why the ACCC—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat.

Mr Feeney interjecting—

The member for Batman is usually better behaved, so he can just take a warning.

David Feeney (Batman, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Justice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

With five ministers in 15 months, it is not surprising that Labor forgot to give the ACCC the resources it needs. We have and it is doing its work. This is about making sure that Australian consumers get good value for money. We are delivering the savings from the carbon tax. That is what you can do when the ACCC has the resources that it needs. We have not been distracted like Labor when they were in government.