Ursula Stephens (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Science and Water) Share this | Hansard source

My question today is to Senator Minchin, the Minister representing the Prime Minister. Can the minister indicate exactly when the Prime Minister directed the ACCC to monitor petrol prices over the June long weekend? Will the ACCC’s report be made public and, if so, when? Is the minister aware that across New South Wales petrol prices spiked by 10c a litre last Thursday to an average of $1.45 in Sydney and up to 6c higher in regional areas? Isn’t it true that these price hikes have nothing to do with the sudden increases in international oil prices, as the Prime Minister tried to claim last week? Is the minister aware that in Western Australia it was not a long weekend and that there was no 10c a litre price increase? Don’t motorists have every right to be cynical about the timing of petrol price increases when they keep being slugged at the start of every holiday period? Don’t they have a right to be cynical about yet another review into petrol pricing?