Chris Hayes (Werriwa, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You only need to pick up a newspaper these days, listen to a local radio, watch the nightly news perhaps or, quite frankly, have a conversation with anyone in an electorate—as you would no doubt appreciate yourself, Mr Deputy Speaker—to find that the first thing people want to talk about is petrol prices. Conversations on petrol pricing have replaced those about the weather or property prices. Whether you are sitting around at the football match, at the club after the game or doing anything else petrol prices are not far from people’s minds. Certainly that has been the experience in my electorate, and I think if everyone were being factual around the chamber that would be their experience as well. I first raised the issue of petrol prices in this country in August last year. Given the fact that I was sworn in as a member of parliament only in late May, it did not take long for people in my area, throughout Liverpool and Campbelltown, to make it known to me that the issues that concerned them were the uncertainties associated with rising petrol prices.

As a representative of an outer metropolitan electorate, I appreciate that thousands of people who get in their cars each day and head off to work face the rapid increase in petrol prices. Hence the reason it is of concern to most people. For instance, within the electorate of Werriwa, which consists largely of working families, people are using their vehicles to get to and from work and to get kids to and from school, as well as the many associated school activities that would follow.

To give you some understanding from my perspective as it impacts on my electorate, you only need to have a cursory look at the actual figures involved. The fact is that half the households in the electorate of Werriwa have two or more vehicles, while two-thirds of the people in my electorate use their vehicles to travel to work. That being the case, you will appreciate the enormous impact of rising petrol prices on the family budget. It is no wonder even a small rise in petrol prices constitutes a serious issue for people in my electorate, where they have to reassess their family budgets and start to think about what they are going to have to cut back—perhaps it is to cut back on out-of-school activities for kids; there may be issues about sports et cetera—and also how they are going to manage the family budget to do everything else, including paying their mortgage. As you would appreciate, outer metropolitan Sydney is the mortgage belt of Sydney.

Given the circumstances of so many of my constituents, it was with considerable interest that I listened to the content of the Prime Minister’s statement on Monday, which is the subject of our discussion here today. I listened with great interest, and I have to say I was disappointed. I was disappointed because I thought it was only designed to address short-term issues. It was not designed to actually give this country energy security for the future and protect against the long-term ravages of a dependency on foreign crude oil supply.

As you would no doubt appreciate, it did take less than a three-hour meeting of the Prime Minister’s backbench to hear just how the skyrocketing petrol prices were hurting people—Australian families and small businesses. So, when the Prime Minister got proudly to his feet on Monday and delivered one of his very few ministerial statements, I have to say it was somewhat disappointing in terms of the content. It was disappointing because it was another effort as a political quick fix. It did not deal with the issue of what is looming large on the horizon of the economies throughout the world or the impact that rising petrol or fuel prices will have on the Australian economy while we are dependent on foreign oil supply, and, quite frankly, it did little to show that we had a plan to protect Australian consumers from having to compete with the emerging and energy-hungry economies of China and India—steps that would have allowed Australia to develop a diversified and home-grown fuel industry. To put in place the steps, we on our side have actually looked at those and, as you would recall, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, because I think most government members do—they read the Labor Party’s blueprints—in October last year we released our blueprint on fuel.

Relief at the petrol pump is one aspect of the issues associated with transport fuels and the energy debate. This is a matter that I spoke about on a number of occasions. As a matter of fact, I sought to have a reference to the ACCC so that that body could examine domestic petrol pricing, a measure that this government opposed, even to the point of gagging the motion that I was moving at that stage. There is no doubt that in the immediate term the most pressing issue for most motorists and small businesses is petrol pricing and that is why the Labor Party sought a reference to the ACCC whereby it could examine in detail all aspects of domestic petrol pricing to ensure, at least for the purpose of Australian motorists, that there was some transparency in the pricing at the petrol pump.

However, the second and probably most important aspect associated with the transport fuels and energy debate is long-term energy security. If this government continues to thumb its nose at putting in place steps to address the longer term implications of increased demand for oil and the limited growth of supply, that cry of pain from the populace will only grow louder and the impact will be felt more acutely on the household budgets of families and small businesses.

I have raised the issue of petrol prices and the need for forward planning for Australia’s long-term energy security in the parliament on at least a dozen occasions. I might add that on the last occasion on which I sought to do that I was gagged by the government in trying to have a reference to the ACCC. Can you believe that? The government does not want to hear about the experience of the people of south-western Sydney, and I imagine that that is the case for people from working families in all outer metropolitan areas. In contrast, we have been listening.

I certainly did take this on board when I listened intently to what the Prime Minister had to say the other day. Labor was looking in the Prime Minister’s statement for a sign that the government had a plan for the future, but all we heard in this marquee announcement was that subsidies would be introduced to convert motor vehicles to LPG and that petrol stations could access subsidies to install ethanol tanks, but this government still has not been able to tell us how many people will be able to take advantage of these subsidies. It cannot tell us how many motorists will be able to benefit from the LPG subsidies. I know that the member for Hunter estimates in his calculations that approximately only three per cent of motorists will be able to take up the advantages of that scheme. If that is right, that means that 97 per cent of people will be left disappointed with this marquee initiative announced by the Prime Minister.

I mentioned earlier that the Prime Minister’s statement contained very little vision for meeting Australia’s future energy demand—be they transport fuels or any other energy form in that regard. There was too little in the measures to uncouple from our dependency on overseas oil supply. By contrast, Labor has already developed and released its plans for the future. While the government concentrates on energies and propping up the nuclear power debate, Labor has called for a full examination of all options available to us, including wind, solar, biofuels, clean burning coal and others. It is not enough to simply concentrate on one aspect of energy for securing Australia’s energy future.

I found it particularly interesting that on the day that the Prime Minister delivered his much awaited statement, the Australian newspaper ran an editorial that showed that at least some people are concerned about Australia’s long-term energy interests. In its editorial on Monday, the Australian newspaper said this:

... Australia has the capacity to break its dependence on imported crude oil. But this will not be done by political posturing and bandaid solutions.

In other words, this will not be done by this government. The Australian went on to say:

Australia must seize the opportunity of a high world oil price to finally get serious about its long-term energy future.

It went on to say:

Opposition resources spokesman Martin Ferguson has raised the issue of gas or coal to liquids as the best long-term answer to the current oil price shock, and he is correct.

That is a telling comment coming from the Australian newspaper, that has taken it upon itself to look at what is motivating its readers and, in turn, protect them from the oil shock and acknowledge that the development of technologies in gas and coal to liquids is in Australia’s best long-term interest.

Unlike the government’s attempt at the short-term political fix, Labor plans for the future. Labor’s fuels blueprint sets the goal of reducing our reliance on foreign oil and outlining a need to diversify Australian fuel industries. Labor has identified that it will pursue self-sufficiency to make this nation stronger, to insulate it from the ravages of the market, to protect it from the economic forces of supply and demand on the world stage, which interact to drive up oil prices. Labor is looking after the strategic interests of Australian fuel security.

In contrast to the government’s marquee announcement about LPG conversions, subsidies will not be available to all motorists. We saw Mr Nairn acknowledge the other day that we will not be moving to convert Commonwealth vehicles to LPG because of the limitations that the gas fuel provides presently. And bear in mind that he made his statement in July this year and then tried to tell us all that much has changed since July. The only thing that has changed since July is that the Prime Minister got up on Monday and made a statement about it. The Prime Minister’s announcement is likely to do little more than drive up the price of LPG conversions and LPG fuel by increasing demand. Labor’s plan, quite frankly, is to provide incentives for Australians to be able to buy and run their vehicles on alternative fuels.

In addition to making a serious effort in diversifying Australia’s fuel industry and reducing the reliance on imported crude oil, Labor is committed to making alternative fuel vehicles tariff free, cutting up to $2,000 off the price of the current hybrid vehicles, and working with state and local governments to give city traffic and parking advantages to hybrid vehicles. A Labor government would also conduct feasibility studies into gas-to-liquid plans as well as coal-to-liquid plans, offer petroleum resource rent tax incentives for the developers of gas fuels which provide resources for gas to liquids within their project, examine the infrastructure investment allowance for investment in Australian gas-to-liquid infrastructure, develop a targeted fund scheme for research and development in these areas, work with industry to improve engine design and fuel quality standards, ease the regulation on biofuel products on farms, and encourage a sustainable ethanol industry. (Time expired)

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