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

Now we turn to matters that are probably closer to heart. It looks like the nirvana for this fiasco is finally over. The Fuelwatch scheme is finally going to come to rest. This has been a complete and utter debacle from the word go. It shows in clear fashion where the Labor Party is on their economic management. This was a dog when it started. It became mangy through its life, and the less said about its demise the better.

Where would they have taken the Fuelwatch scheme? We have managed to go through the process of designing a scheme that was going to do no more than put up the price of fuel and was going to put the independents under threat. It was just a bells and whistles show, a pitch to the Australian consumer who was under the belief that the government was actually doing something substantive. This Fuelwatch scheme really came to its apex when Mr Walker decided that he had had enough and bolted.