Kirsten Livermore (Capricornia, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Education) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday in the Courier-Mail we saw reports about more petrol price rip-offs that the government does not seem interested in doing anything about. Fuel industry consultants FUELtrac were quoted as saying that the oil giants were adding an extra margin by consistently charging 2c to 3c a litre more for wholesale petrol in Queensland than in southern states. Geoff Trotter, the spokesman for FUELtrac, went on to say, ‘And we are not sure why.’ That is the question. We are not sure why because the government refuses to give the ACCC the powers it needs to explain why that is the case.

But of course that is only part of the story. That article in the Courier-Mail and our question to the Prime Minister yesterday were primarily about fuel prices in Brisbane. Yesterday the price for unleaded petrol in Brisbane was 123.9c per litre, but up in Rockhampton and the places around my electorate the cost per litre is much higher. In Rockhampton yesterday it was $1.28 a litre, in Blackwater it was $1.26, in Mackay it was $1.26 and in Moranbah it was $1.35.

See this speech in context