Craig Emerson (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Minister Assisting the Finance Minister on Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed, I provided that advice to my colleagues—obviously not as of today’s date, because the discussion was held and the decision was made in April. I advised my colleagues that I considered that FuelWatch could, if anything, advantage small business in Western Australia, and indeed I was right, based on the evidence over the period March 2001 to June 2007. There is not only a substantial number—and an increase in the number—of operators, as I am advised, but total sites for branded independents have gone up from 34 per cent to 36 per cent and for general independents it has increased from two per cent to five per cent. That is the sort of information that would have been available to the member for Moncrieff. That is the sort of information that would have been available to the opposition if it had so inquired. That is the sort of information that leads me to fully support the introduction of Fuelwatch in the eastern states, because I believe that small business will be big beneficiaries from the introduction of Fuelwatch.

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