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

I cannot agree to the fact that the relativities may work out through time. I say that for this reason: if you go to the figures for on-road use of diesel, for example, in July 2000 it was 64c, in September 2003 it was 67c, in June 2004 it was 75c and in July 2006 it was $1.13. I do not see that the relativities can in fact be moved out over time. It also ignores the fact that there may be advances—for example, in the critical mass or volumes of biodiesel being produced or with new plants and equipment coming online—that might reduce the production costs. As far as I am aware, there are new plants being produced.

To compare that with the progression for biodiesel, if you look at the July 2000 price threshold of biodiesel before GST, you will see it is 64c. I note that it is the same price as diesel. In September 2003 it was 85c, in June 2004 it was 97c and in July 2006 it was $1.28. So the progressions are different. I would not accept that you can extrapolate the progressions in the manner that I think you are looking to in your examples.