Jill Hall (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

As the member for Chifley said, it is a rip-off. Who is being ripped off? The Australian people. Who is allowing this rip-off to continue? The Howard government. The Howard government have to take responsibility for what is happening with the price of fuels. They cannot walk away from it. They cannot throw their hands up in the air and say, as the Prime Minister has done, ‘There is nothing we can do about it.’ There is plenty he can do about it, and it is about time he started to do something. We need national leadership to develop existing alternatives such as liquid petroleum, ethanol and biodiesel, which the kids from Floraville Public School—who are under 12 years of age—can see we need. We need technologies to enable emerging alternatives such as compressed natural gas, liquid fuels from gas and stored electricity and future fuels such as hydrogen. For that to happen, we need a government that supports the development of these new technologies. We need this because our transport fuel market needs a fresh blast of competition—real competition, not the kind of competition that we see currently within the fuel market.

By developing an Australian policy, an Australian industry and Australian alternatives, Australia becomes less vulnerable to external shocks and the possibility of a $5 a litre price at the pump within a decade. I do not think it is unrealistic to say that we are very fast approaching that $2 a litre barrier. I would hate to see us reach that by the end of this year but, unless this government acts and takes some initiative, that is where we will be. Yet all we see is John Howard throwing his hands in the air and saying, ‘We can’t do anything about it.’ He has also said:

I can fully understand the anger of motorists at the price of petrol.

...         ...         ...

World oil prices are not something the Australian Government, or any government, can influence. They are out of our control.

Well, Prime Minister, what is in your control? What can you do? I would argue that there are plenty of things that you can do. I suggest that you start by looking at the Labor Party’s ‘Blueprint Number Three—Australian Fuels’ and acting on it. We do not mind if you steal some of our initiatives—they would be good for Australia. We believe that Australians should not be paying the high prices at the pumps at the moment. We believe that we should have an Australian industry, and it is about time this government acts to see that that happens.

See this speech in context