Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Exactly. Senator Cormann has clearly been on the phone or had his people on the phone to Senator Patrick, saying: 'You'd better get out there, Rex, and retract that story. You remember to hush-hush. We've got no written guarantee.' If Senator Cormann is now to be believed and, in fact, there isn't a written guarantee from the government about gas prices, are we to believe that Centre Alliance actually hasn't got any kind of deal for their support for these tax cuts? They either have a deal or they don't. It's either in writing or it's not. But what we're hearing from Senator Cormann is that there is no written guarantee; there is no deal. So what is Centre Alliance actually doing here? We can't ask them, because they've been hiding for the entirety of question time, too ashamed to come to this chamber as their hopeless deal is being exposed. And now we learn that it appears—according to Senator Cormann—that there's no deal whatsoever. I have to say I am thoroughly confused about what Centre Alliance are up to and what they are going to get out of this deal for the Australian people.

One of the reasons I'm confused is that I heard Senator Patrick on AM this morning being interviewed by Sabra Lane. He was dodging and weaving her questions about what effect this would have on gas prices, but she finally managed to pin him down when she asked, 'So people on the east coast, including South Australia, can expect that their prices will be $4 cheaper in twelve months or so?' Senator Patrick answered:

I think probably a realistic measure is something of the order of about $7 per gigajoules. Currently we're paying about $9 per gigajoule.

So Senator Patrick has been in the media this morning making a promise that gas prices on the east coast are going to fall by $2 per gigajoule, which means that households using their gas appliances in South Australia, Queensland, north New South Wales, Victoria and other states and territories on the east coast will get a gas price reduction. But now we're starting to find out that in fact there is no such deal. Can someone tell us what Centre Alliance is getting out of this? They're signing up to tax cuts from this government which are going to remove $158 billion in revenue from the federal budget over the next few years. They're about to give away $158 billion of public money, which is needed to fund all sorts of other services in their home state of South Australia. While I would disagree with them doing a deal that might do something about gas prices, we're now finding out that they don't even have a deal. So I'm very much looking forward to hearing Centre Alliance, over the course of the day, try to explain to us and to the South Australians who voted for them what on earth they have managed to get out of the government in return for rolling over and backing in $158 billion of tax cuts.

The article that we're referring to is crystal clear. It was published around question time:

Centre Alliance has received a written guarantee outlining the Morrison government's gas policy, which the key minor party demanded in exchange for its support for the … tax cuts …

The copy of the draft gas policy, which has been signed by the government, was given to Centre Alliance senators last night ahead of a crucial vote in the Senate today …

That's not something you can make up. There's clearly a draft gas policy. Senator Canavan's here. He can probably illuminate this. He was probably involved in drafting this gas policy. He's also party to this deal and, by forming this deal, he is also promising the people in his home state of Queensland that their gas prices are going to fall, $9 a gigajoule down to $7 gigajoule. I look forward to all those people in Rockhampton thanking Senator Canavan for the gas price reductions that he's promised them.

Here's Senator Patrick. Maybe now he can tell us. Senator Patrick, have you done a deal or haven't you? Have you done a written deal or have you not? Have you done a verbal deal or have you not? We were told that you had and now we're being told that you haven't, so we'd quite like to know what you've done. You're about to give away $158 billion in tax cuts.