Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister representing the Treasurer. I refer the minister to Terry McCrann’s response to the government’s refusal to cut petrol tax by 10c a litre and its attempt to divert the public with promises to subsidise the installation of LPG; and, in particular, I refer to his statement:

John Howard clearly believes that he—and the rest of us—have not yet returned to a 2001 future ... that’s why you spend only $150 million or so pretending to do something about the price of petrol rather than the $3-4 billion that it would cost to actually cut the price at the pump.

Minister, given that Terry McCrann points out that only a few thousand drivers might benefit from the government’s policy, why does the government pretend that this policy is an adequate response to spiralling petrol prices?