Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

And—through you, Mr Deputy President—in 1998 he did, Senator Sinodinos. He took it to an election. So what I want to ask is: how long is 'never, ever' going to last for? In this case it was two years. So you see there is a trend, Mr Deputy President, because on this side they cannot wait to denounce any talk of a GST, although it is probably the most discussed issue in the papers since the change of leadership from Mr Abbott to Mr Turnbull and is ably backed up by the Liberal states.

While we are talking about the Liberal states, I just want to touch on the state of Western Australia, because one of the biggest—and rightfully one of the biggest—whingers about the GST is the Western Australian Premier, Premier Barnett. We could cut through the crocodile tears, because as a Western Australian I reckon West Aussies get ripped off. Do not worry about that. I reckon we are the engine room of the economy, and we have carried along a number of other states for a number of years. I know that I may get some opposition from my colleagues.

Senator Bullock interjecting—

Thank you, Senator Bullock. I have one on my side. But one must never forget that Mr Barnett, in his previous life when the GST was introduced, was actually the energy and resources minister and education minister in Western Australia. He is up to his neck in the way it was set up. So it is really disingenuous for him to stand up and start whinging about a process that he was very keen to support, vote for and help get through in the Howard government.

But I want to talk about the distinct possibility of a GST increase—not just in schoolbooks, uniforms and that sort of stuff. I want to talk about something very close to me, the possible impost of a GST increase on Australia's trucking industry. I want to talk about my own experiences, which no-one in this chamber could deny. In fact, no-one could even raise their voice and try to argue against the knowledge and experience I have in long-distance haulage in Australia, particularly pulling road trains between Perth and Darwin, because that was my life.

I did some quick calculations. If there were a GST increase from 10 per cent to 15 per cent, what would it mean to Western Australia's truckies? I took what I used to do, and I took a triple road train operator running from Perth to Kununurra. This is a weekly occurrence, and there are a number of our long-distance subbies and truck drivers who every week run from Perth to Broome, Derby, Fitzroy, Halls Creek or Kununurra or even service the Pilbara, doing two trips a week. But, at the end of the week, you can bet your bottom dollar they will cover around the same number of kilometres if they are a two-up operation and they will cover the same number of kilometres per annum if they are a single operation.

If we put a five-percentage-point increase on GST just on their fuel alone, what would it mean to Australia's truckies and to those communities that our long-distance truckies are servicing through the Pilbara and the Kimberley? A typical Kimberley runner—and this could, as I said, go for a Pilbara runner as well—would do about 400,000 kilometres per year on a two-up operation. I did two sums, but I will use the lesser one. I used about $1.30 a litre, because FuelWatch at the moment says diesel is about $1.40 in the Kimberley, and I took off the diesel excise rebate. The sums are quite scary. For an average truckie, a two-up operation, the driver's fuel bill would be $520,000 if fuel were to stay at the current rate. Of that, a five per cent GST on our truckie's fuel bill would be no less than $26,000 a year. I am not making this up. So what I am probably suggesting—

Senator Bushby interjecting—

before some peanut from the other side who does not know one end of a truck from the other says something; I am not suggesting you at all, but you had your mouth open—is that it will get down to this stage for Western Australia and Australia's truckies. You will get the truck. The best thing you can do is to get the number of your house in big, bold, brass letters, put it on your passenger door and cut a slot in the passenger door. Make it about the same size as your average mail envelope. Park it out the front. Turn it into the best, biggest, brightest letterbox in the street because—I have to tell you—it will be a lot cheaper than running it up and down the road if this mob are ever allowed to increase the GST, let alone the impact on shoppers and the communities in our far north. They will be absolutely screwed. (Time expired)