Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

If you go back to the explanatory memorandum, you will see that the Energy Grants (Cleaner Fuels) Scheme Bill 2004 provided for a grant to:

... offset the excise and customs duty payable on biodiesel from 18 September 2003 and continue the current effective excise rate of zero for 100% biodiesel until 30 June 2008.

That was from the explanatory memorandum to the bill.

In relation to another comment you made, Senator Joyce, I note that there are some in the industry who might believe that this is something that has been snuck up on them, but there was a discussion paper put out on fuel tax credit reform in May 2005. So this information has been out there for some time. While there may have been some issues in relation to the specifics, particularly in relation to blends, I do not think that it is correct to say that it is something that has been snuck up on the industry. It is something that has been there for some considerable period of time.

In relation to your question about a specific plan from the government, I refer you to the biodiesel action plan that the government has released. It is quite evident to me that there remains within the government ranks considerable interest in this as an industry and as a future industry. I think that is something that you might consider as part of this process.