Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I think we need to push this point. We do not know how much biodiesel is being produced at the moment—we do not have that information. However, we do know where it is being produced; it is being produced in myriad places, including a lot of regional towns. We know that if all the biodiesel that is currently going to cause the problem of revenue being forgone ends up as part of standard diesel, being five per cent biodiesel, the revenue position to the Treasury will be exactly the same. Whatever was forgone in the past, it will be exactly the same amount that is forgone in the future. It is just that it is going to be done under standard diesel as opposed to biodiesel. The five per cent of biodiesel that is in standard diesel will have collected the production grant and will also collect the full excise from the end consumer. If that is the case, what is the Treasury argument about the hole that we are trying to cover up with this legislation?