Chris Bowen (Prospect, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I appreciate the question from the honourable gentleman and I appreciate the opportunity to outline to the House the actions the government has taken in its first few months in relation to transparency in the petrol market. On 18 December, less than a fortnight after the Rudd government was sworn in, we issued formal monitoring powers to the ACCC. These powers give the ACCC the ability to subpoena documents and witnesses if they fear anticompetitive conduct at any point in the petrol supply chain.

Importantly, on Saturday we fulfilled another election commitment with the announcement that Mr Pat Walker will be Australia’s new petrol commissioner. Mr Walker has been Consumer Protection Commissioner and petrol commissioner in Western Australia for the last 10 years. Under his leadership and the leadership of the Western Australian government, petrol prices have been a major focus of the Department of Consumer and Employment Protection in Western Australia. Indeed, Perth has gone from being one of the more expensive cities in Australia for petrol to one of the cheapest. I have asked the new Petrol Commissioner to investigate the recent increases in LPG and diesel prices which have been causing concern across the country, and particularly in relation to diesel in rural and regional areas, and to report back to the government on what more can or should be done. I welcome the endorsement from the Leader of the Opposition of that action.

The ACCC’s petrol report, handed to the government last December, underlines the need for these sorts of actions. The ACCC found the wholesale petrol market in Australia to be ‘a comfortable oligopoly’. Perhaps it is comfortable for producers, but it is not comfortable for consumers. It is important to understand that our position in government is the same as it was in opposition. The biggest impact on Australian petrol prices comes from world oil prices. But, when world oil prices are so high, it is incumbent on the government of the day to do everything possible to put downward pressure on prices by ensuring the market is working competitively—something the previous government did not do. They shrugged their shoulders and said over 11 years, ‘Australian working families have never been better off.’ Therefore they chose not to take action in relation to petrol prices. This government has a different approach. We believe that through competition and transparency we can put downward pressure on petrol prices, and that is what we will continue to do. I am pleased to report to the House that the Rudd government has done more to introduce transparency into the petrol market in Australia in the last 2½ months than the previous government did in 11½ years.

There is, of course, more to do. We will continue to work with the ACCC on their suggestions and recommendations for action, including investigation of the so-called buy-sell arrangements between oil companies, which mean that a problem in a refinery of one producer flows through to other producers and all consumers pay more for their petrol. We will also continue to work on the issues of transparency and more information for consumers that the ACCC raised in their report.

Given that I have been asked by the honourable member for Leichhardt about the government’s actions since the election, it is appropriate that I inform the House of some of the third-party commentary on those actions in relation to transparency in the petrol market. Peter Kell, the CEO of Choice, has said:

We are pleased to see the federal government stepping in on behalf of consumers in relation to petrol prices—

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