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

We just heard a fascinating speech from Senator Sterle—in fact, I felt like checking what we were talking on; it sounded like we were about to move a mandate on ethanol, for which he would have had my support. But he was not. Although he gave a fascinating speech, we are actually talking here today about the Petroleum Retail Legislation Repeal Bill 2006.

I want to pick up on a couple of points of Senator Sterle’s before we go much further. He talked about his overwhelming support for the biodiesel industry—no doubt in Western Australia there is a lot of support for the biodiesel industry. I remember Labor frantically knocking down our doors a few months ago asking for support for the biodiesel industry. However, what surprised me then, after Senator Sterle’s comments, was the way the vote went in the chamber. The only people who actually supported a move to assist the biodiesel producers of Western Australia were me and a senator from the Democrats. Senator Sterle actually voted to get rid of the biodiesel industry in Western Australia. We should put that back on the record, because he seems to be getting a bit shifty. He has been here for a little while, and he is getting a bit shifty now. He wants to ride both sides of the fence.