Cameron Caldwell (Fadden, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

We couldn't really close the Federation Chamber this week without talking about the big topic of the week, and that is fuel supply and fuel prices. There is absolutely no doubt that this is hurting some sectors more than others. We know that our farmers, our fishers and our friends in the bush are really struggling, but, in my local area, it's even small businesses that are really starting to struggle.

I was contacted this week by a mobile welder and fabricator who's been stood down from work. It's not because there's not enough work or not enough demand. The reason for him being stood down is the uncertainty of the diesel supply needed to run the generator that's used for the mobile fabrication work. We know that many of our tradespeople rely on diesel powered equipment to keep working each day. What happens when the fuel supply becomes uncertain, prices go up and supply just disappears is that businesses can't plan, they can't deliver and ultimately workers lose work. This is having real consequences in our local community.

Overnight, we saw diesel hit about $2.55 a litre in the local area. That's shot up from about $1.55 when I last filled up the tank before I came down to Canberra. So $1 per litre is the price spike on diesel just in the local area. This is really causing major dramas, particularly for our transport businesses. I was contacted by Danielle from the local area in response to a Facebook post I put out this morning. She welcomes enforcement action, but truthfully she says: 'That is of no help to small businesses, who have to pass on the fuel increases as a levy to their customers, whether that be business to business or consumers. I'm in the transport industry, and it's not able to be absorbed.' What this means, of course, is that the cost of everything goes up because, when fuel prices go up, the cost of transport, generators, refrigeration—all of it—goes up.

We're already in difficulty with inflation. The RBA is not happy with where we're sitting. They had already forecast that inflation was probably going to get to about 4.2 per cent, but this fuel crisis is now putting even more pressure on that inflationary number. We saw just in the last couple of days reports that Deputy Governor Andrew Hauser has said that he expects inflation will smash through that 4.2 per cent and could maybe stop short of 5 per cent. Those numbers are way outside the RBA's comfort zone. In those circumstances, the RBA has only got one lever that it can pull, and that's to lift interest rates. What that means is higher mortgage repayments for households. It means higher rents because the costs that houses are to hold will go up. Each and every mortgage holder who has an average mortgage in Australia is paying about $23,000 a year more now than they were when the coalition was in government. Every incremental increase to rates makes it that much harder to keep a roof over your head.

Had we been in a circumstance where the Treasurer had us well-prepared for these kinds of events, where inflation was under control, where inflation had actually turned the corner and where the Reserve Bank was satisfied with where inflation was at, we might be better prepared to deal with these world shocks. But, at the moment, we are badly exposed to world events. We are adding these events on top of already high inflation data. We are shockingly exposed, and this is just one example of the mismanagement of the economy by this treasurer. Another thing that I'll point to, which many Australians don't know, is that we are about to tick over a trillion dollars of national debt, which means we are servicing interest of $72 million a day. This type of management must end.

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