Louise Pratt (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Environment and Water (Senate)) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today, I brought forth to this place a petition that was brought to me by the state member for Bunbury, Mr Don Punch MLA. He ' s a strong local member and part of the Mark McGowan Labor government . H e ' s brought an issue of serious importance , to this place and to the nation , to the attention of the Senate. He raises on behalf of the petitioners a very serious issue. We have in Bunbury a thriving regional city. It ' s about two hours from Perth and north of the beautiful Geographe Bay , where you will find the most stunning views of the Indian Oce an. But that is clearly not the important issue tonight. What I am concerned about is that the residents of Bunbury have long been concerned about significant discrepancies in petrol pricing. They are paying more to fill up in Bunbury than residents in other major centres of the south-west of the state. They pay more in Bunbury than in smaller regional towns —re gional towns , frankly , right across the country. Not unreasonably, Bunbury residents have an expectation that they should not have to pay more than people who live in communities of comparable size and circumstance. We have the residents of Bunbury just wanting a fair go on what is a very significant cost impost . W e've all seen petrol prices grow around the nation in recent times, but for the Bunbury resi dents it has been even more so.

The Australian Automobile Association's Transport Affordability Index for March found , ironically , that Bunbury is the most expensive regional centre in Australia for vehicle transport costs. Why do I say ' ironically ' ? Well, Bunbury is just 150 kilometres from Australia's only oil-to-petrol refinery. How strange that should therefore be the case. They are among the highest users of private vehicle transport in terms of getting to and from work. Bunbury is a big regional town, but they don't have the same kind of public transport as the cities.

As I said, Bunbury is 150 kilometres from Australia's only oil refinery. How is it that there is such a discrepancy in the costs? Transport is not the issue; it is the market and price gouging in this local community that are at play here. We know that high transport costs act as a barrier to employment opportunities and economic productivity. The statistics from the ABS in 2016 show that a greater percentage of those employed in Bunbury were reliant on their car to get to and from work than in any other electorate in Western Australia; 71½ per cent travelled by car to work, and a further seven per cent travelled as a passenger in a private vehicle.

This is a region that has one of the highest unemployment rates in the state of WA, and we should be doing all we can to minimise barriers to employment. People in Bunbury understand why regional people pay more for petrol than those in the metro area do, and they do not have an expectation of price parity. However, it is absolutely unfair that they are paying more than other regional towns, often much further from the refinery and with lower population, and with much less local competition. Over previous years, various inquiries have compared petrol prices in regional centres with those in the cities and have only rarely compared prices between regional centres.

I want to thank the greater Bunbury community, who rallied together to back this petition. This petition, while assisted by Don Punch, has been a real community effort, and I commend the petition to the Senate.