Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Disabilities and Carers) Share this | Hansard source

The government acknowledges that the bill draws its authority from the corporations powers in the Constitution. While the obligations outlined in the bill may apply only to constitutional corporations, that is, incorporated bodies, the bill will be an important tool that the government can utilise to help combat the harms of petrol sniffing.

The government's proposed amendments improve the operation of the Low Aromatic Fuel Bill. The amendments do not address all the issues identified in the recent Senate committee report, but they go a long way to improving its administration. As noted in the Senate debate on 22 November, the amended bill provides an evolutionary step forward and enables other complementary activities—for example, education and diversionary programs—to have a positive effect.

The government has considered whether to expand the constitutional basis of the bill to draw on the race power to ensure that all retail and commercial entities involved in the supply of fuel in a designated area, not just a constitutional corporation, would be required to comply with the requirements of the bill. This could only be achieved by making it an offence for individuals to supply regular unleaded fuel in low-aromatic fuel areas or a fuel control area.

In addition, due to the complexity of the fuel supply chain it is unlikely that there would be circumstances in which the supply chain would not include a constitutional corporation, which would be bound by the provisions of the bill, and that would effectively stem the flow of regular unleaded petrol into a designated low-aromatic fuel area or fuel control area.