Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

The former government ignored these concerns when the opposition, us at the time, called for a petrol prices commissioner. And what is one of the promises that we are moving very quickly to deliver on? It is to keep the petrol companies honest. We are going there; we are doing this.

Unlike those opposite, who have no regard for the ordinary concerns of working families in this country—none whatsoever; they would not give the ACCC a permanent reference; they would not give the ACCC the tools it needed to deal with petrol price exploitation—we have put in place mechanisms to deal with this issue. But let us be clear about this: for those on the opposite side to come into this chamber now and start crying crocodile tears when for 11½ years they would not give the ACCC the powers it needed, they should be ashamed of themselves.