Pat Conaghan (Cowper, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Social Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Given the cost-of-living crisis Australian families are facing, with the price of everything going up, will the Prime Minister put politics aside and join with the opposition's plan to give immediate relief to family budgets by halving the fuel excise?

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cowper for his question. One of the distinctions to be drawn here is between permanent cost-of-living relief and something that is temporary, that is borrowed from the Morrison government. The leftovers of the Morrison government have borrowed the leftovers of the Morrison government's policy. In the March 2022 budget they proposed something very similar that then just disappeared. They have had time to think about it since and, indeed, they have made comments about it since, very helpfully. This is what the Leader of the Opposition said in October 2023: 'There can be temporary relief through a reduction of excise if they believe that is going to be a benefit. It is costly and it can be gamed by the oil giants.' That was what he said. Not to be outdone, the shadow Treasurer said: 'So while putting more money in people's pockets through a fuel excise might sound good, the problem is it is not actually solving the inflation problem, and you will see price rises elsewhere as a result.' On 5 December 2023, Senator Jane Hume, the finance spokesperson, said, 'Putting subsidies on fuel prices can in fact fuel the inflationary fire rather than temper it.' There is more, just in case you think that was a one-off. Maybe they said this in the shadow cabinet meeting, if it went there. In November 2023, they said, 'There are two problems with it. One is it could all be eaten up with global volatility in a moment, so people might not actually feel that in their hip pocket.' That's what they had to say. But it wasn't just the people with portfolio responsibility. The member for New England got in on it. He was asked whether it would help, and he said this:

No, it won't. But what it will do is it'll take money away that we spend on roads.

That's what he had to say. The current shadow transport minister was in on the joke as well. Senator McKenzie is always good for a quote. She said, 'I think just pulling one lever, such as fuel excise, won't deliver the whole-of-economy response and relief that Australians are looking for.' They have spent three years bagging this policy that he's going to announce tonight—three years—because they know that this temporary relief is no substitute for the permanent cost-of-living relief that we've delivered and they've voted against.