Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Coming in on cue, the Manager of Opposition Business says ‘blame the states.’ We have a Building Australia Fund, which is designed to confront the challenges of urban congestion. Why don’t those opposite come up with a positive response to the challenges of urban congestion, for example, in dealing with what we do with the future of urban metro? Beyond that is an alternative fuel strategy, such as never emanated from those opposite, which is currently being developed by my colleague Minister Ferguson. On top of that, what are we going to do in terms of automobile design? We have the green car innovation fund, with half a billion dollars to assist in the production of an Australian hybrid car. Then you have domestic competition policy arrangements. What we have done on our side of the House is the appointment of a petrol price commissioner, the application of formal price monitoring in relation to the petroleum retail industry and the proposed introduction of FuelWatch by year’s end, endorsed by the state Liberal government of Western Australia, who introduced it, and the state Liberal leadership of New South Wales—and it seems that the federal leadership once again have parted company with their state colleagues. On the question of taxation treatment, as I said before, these matters are before the Henry commission and we wait for their report.

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