Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is actually terrible public policy, despite what has just been put forward. This is terrible public policy and it has been condemned and canned throughout the regional media. That is probably exactly why the government has moved to gag debate today. I am a regional MP, and it is not just my local paper that has really gone out there and canned this policy. A number of papers in regional areas have come out and canned this policy, saying that it is going to be tough for the bush and tough for farmers.

Let us look at TheDaily Mercury, which is a paper in Mackay. It says that this will have a crippling effect on our cane growers in the region—a crippling effect—yet we are hearing from people opposite that farmers want this. This does not include the farmers who are cane growers in Mackay. We have also heard that it is something that people are proud to defend. Really? Your local papers are not saying that. Is that why we have got so many MPs in hiding, not willing to stand up and nail their colours to the mast on that? We have had MPs on the other side—on the government's side—publicly say that they disagree with this policy. We have got senators coming out and maintaining the rage against this, saying that this will be bad for the bush. We have got other members of the government coming out publicly and saying that this particular fuel excise increase is another tax and it is a broken promise. So no wonder the government is moving to gag debate on this, when its own MPs out in public are saying that it is another broken promise and an increase in a tax.

It is a broken promise and it is an increase in a tax. In my electorate of Bendigo, we pay high fuel prices, which means we will be paying even more in excise to the government. On one Saturday in Bendigo city itself, the price was okay—it was about the national average; it was $1.50—but, the moment you went further out, it got more expensive. On the same day, the price was $1.65 in Woodend. That is an extra 15c. On top of that, they then have to pay more excise. The fact is that, in regional Australia, the further out you go, the more you pay in fuel. So this is a tax that hurts the bush. The increasing of the excise will hurt the bush and hurt regional electorates like mine, because the further you go, the more tax you have to pay to this government.

I am also not surprised that the government wants to gag debate to stop those MPs from big rural seats standing up and talking about this issue, because who would want to go home and stand up in front of the farmers and the small businesses and say, 'Yes, I've just increased the cost of your business.' This is a government that claims to be the best friend of small business, yet it has just increased one of the biggest things that you can increase for a small business—the cost of fuel and the cost of petrol.

Let us, for a moment, remember why it is the fuel excise was frozen. Let us just remind people why. John Howard, the former Prime Minister, introduced the GST, and part of the trade-off when he introduced the GST was to freeze the fuel excise, because having the fuel excise and the GST is double-taxing. It is double-taxing on fuel, which is vital for people to be able to live. The motorists who live in country areas, the people who rely on transport, rely on fuel. We have limited or no public transport in the regions, so, for those electorates where people need to use a car, we need to ensure that we have fairer taxes.

Right now, this is not a fair tax, and it is not a fair tax because it is a tax on a tax. I am quite surprised that the government, who were the architects of the GST, forget this. They forget that this is a tax on a tax. The question that I have for the government now is: are they going to consider reducing or removing the GST on fuel? That is the only way that you can ensure that the people in the country and in the regions are not hit with a double tax.

It is very disappointing that the government has gagged debate on this. There are a number of MPs on this side of the House that wanted to stand up for their families, stand up for their communities, stand up for their electorate and highlight exactly why this is an unfair tax and another broken promise.

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