Anne Urquhart (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

On 22 August 2011, Mr Abbott spoke to the parliament about the need for governments to keep their pre-election commitments. On this matter he said:

It is an absolute principle of democracy that governments should not and must not say one thing before an election and do the opposite afterwards. Nothing could be more calculated to bring our democracy into disrepute and alienate the citizenry of Australia from their government …

Well, this is exactly what they did yesterday. They broke yet another promise to the Australian people and chipped away even further at the trust Australians have in our democracy. Despite the Prime Minister's pre-election promises that there would be no new taxes and no tax increases, the Abbott government yesterday announced that next month they are going to impose a new petrol tax on every motorist in the country. In an extraordinary act, this government is totally bypassing proper democratic processes and sneaking their nasty petrol tax in through the back door. Knowing that they would fail to get support, the government employed trickly tactics to bypass the parliament. It is entirely understandable that Australian Automobile Association chief executive Andrew McKellar has condemned the government's ploy as weak, sneaky, tricky and gutless. That is not me saying this. These are the words of the Australian Automobile Association chief executive.

The move to increase the petrol tax on the sly shows complete disregard for our parliament and for the Australian people, who took Mr Abbott at his word when he promised no new taxes and no tax increases. We heard from Senator Cameron a moment ago that even one of Mr Abbott's own senators, Senator Ian Macdonald, can see what a bad move is. Yesterday, he said, 'My opposition will not change, because I just think it is wrong and it is unfair.' He rightly pointed out that the government would be better off to get rid of their gold plated paid parental leave scheme rather than launching another cost-of-living attack on Australians, and particularly on the most vulnerable Australians.

They were unable to get support for their unfair petrol tax, so they have decided to launch a sneaky attack on the wallets of all motorists, of all families and of all businesses. This is bad. It is underhanded behaviour and it is a clear breach of trust. Nor can those opposite be trusted to put the interests of Australians first. The Labor Party will not support this attack on Australia's cost of living. The fuel tax is neither fair nor is it right.

We have worked with the government on a number of areas, but we will not be blackmailed or bullied by those opposite into supporting bad policy. That is exactly what this bill is—it is bad policy. It is a regressive tax and it will hit hardest the low-income Australians and those in regional areas.