Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Treasury) Share this | Hansard source

I want to commence my contribution tonight by acknowledging the contribution of the member for Mallee. Mr Speaker, having an adjoining electorate to the member for Mallee and to my electorate of Ballarat, you would understand just how much tragedies such as the Kerang rail disaster affect country people. Certainly the rail disaster at Kerang has touched all Victorians, but particularly those of us who live in country Victoria who see the rail services that we have and who live along that corridor.

Tonight I want to talk about petrol pricing. Despite the Howard government’s contention that families have never had it so good, the reality for many families is very different. Many families are struggling to make ends meet. Personal debt has reached record levels, with total personal debt in Australia increasing from $45.9 billion in January 1996 to a staggering $133.1 billion in November 2006. Families are struggling to keep up to date with their mortgage repayments—a fact demonstrated by the current level of mortgage repossessions being two-thirds higher than in 1991, at the height of the recession. Expenses for essential items like child care are increasing at a faster rate than inflation, with childcare costs rising a whopping 54 per cent in the three months between December 2006 and March 2007, with a 12.9 per cent increase over the past year.

The budgets of many families in my electorate are stretched to breaking point—and, once again, over the long weekend, motorists had to shell out extra for petrol. Too often oil companies have seen long weekends, the Easter break and school holidays as times to cash in. Motorists in my electorate alone paid an extra $734,000 at the petrol browser last week compared to what they paid in January this year. When you look at the number of motorists in the city of Ballarat itself, that amounts to $446,000 extra per week compared to January this year. In Hepburn Shire, motorists are paying $136,000 extra per week compared to January this year and in the Moorabool Shire motorists are paying $133,270 extra per week compared to what they were paying in January this year.

Motorists in regional and rural Australia are particularly sensitive to petrol prices. Motorists in regional communities have further to travel, be it for work, visiting family or friends or attending social functions. Take communities like Bacchus Marsh and Darley in my electorate, which have a high population of commuters who travel to Melbourne each day for work. For many, this means a round trip of over two hours driving each day. With public transport not always as good or as affordable as it could be, compared to many of the areas in Melbourne, the task of going to work can become unaffordable for some families already struggling with the skyrocketing costs of health, education, groceries and child care. It is money that many families do not have.

While it is true that there are many factors that contribute to the price of petrol, it is equally true that there is something very strange going on with petrol prices. You know petrol prices are too high when Caltex themselves admit that the petrol prices are too high. It was reported last week that petrol companies were overcharging consumers by up to 10c per litre in the lead-up to the long weekend. We need to assure motorists that they are getting the best possible deal they can get when they fill up their car. The Prime Minister admits that oil companies have been slow to pass on falls in the Singapore benchmark price and that this is what is hurting Australian families. But these are just crocodile tears. What has the Howard government actually done to counter this? What measures has the government introduced to prevent petrol gouging? What powers or instructions has the Howard government given to the ACCC to monitor petrol prices? The short answer is: absolutely nothing.

At present, the ACCC can only monitor prices at the bowser and refinery gate by using data that is in the public realm. To access other documents on pricing, they have to be instructed by the Treasurer of the day—which is something that this Treasurer has not done. The ACCC relies on informal monitoring, using only publicly available information on petrol prices. This is no match for the multimillion-dollar oil companies. The Howard government has not given the ACCC adequate resources, instructions or powers. This is simply not good enough for the thousands of families in my district.

Labor has said that in government we will establish an office of petrol commissioner within the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission. We will give a national petrol commissioner the legislative powers to get inside oil companies and access any relevant documentation on pricing. The office of petrol commissioner will be given full powers under the Trade Practices Act to monitor and investigate petrol pricing. This will enable the petrol commissioner to scrutinise documents and other information from any participant in the petrol supply chain to stop any price gouging.

The Howard government must do everything in its power to ensure that motorists are not paying one cent more on petrol than is necessary. Unfortunately, this current government is not. (Time expired)

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