Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

We're very happy to see that this legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026, is being debated, though we're very disappointed that the government has gone through a shambled process, to introduce the Fair Work Amendment (Fairer Fuel) Bill 2026 this morning. They have tried to force it through the parliament before anyone in the entire country has read it. The Leader of the House understands full well the scale of the legislation he is trying to introduce, and he is now trying to ram it through the parliament on the basis that he has no interest in the opposition or anyone outside this parliament scrutinising it. It's a very dangerous precedent.

This is in comparison to the schedules that are being updated in the context of the Competition and Consumer Act which are focused very squarely on making sure penalties are imposed on those who seek to price gouge or harm Australians. It's a straightforward exercise that they have dawdled on every step of the way. The response from the minister has been to not bring the legislation to the House, to bring it to a vote to resolve the matter and to up the penalties, but instead he has allowed time to drift. We are simply asking that that matter, which is simple, straightforward and clear, be resolved. Instead, what the government is now doing is a shambolic process to try and shut down parliamentary scrutiny and parliamentary accountability. I'll remind the House this Fair Work legislation was introduced this morning. A copy has not even, as far as I am aware, been made available to the opposition—or, if it has, we certainly haven't had the chance to read it yet. When you're making such substantial changes to industrial relations legislation—and I know the Labor Party works for the trade union movement; it doesn't work for Australians—at some point you actually have to factor Australians into the conversation.

We hope and pray sanity prevails and that the government is proportionate and reasonable. They announced the changes in the ACCC bill well over a week ago. There was a lot of fanfare from the Treasurer. I understand why there was a lot of fanfare from the Treasurer, because they need to be seen to be taking action given the context and time. We have been waiting patiently for the legislation. It finally arrived, it is straightforward and simple, and that's why we have no issue debating it. We do have a problem when the government announces legislation and essentially gives no real insight into its detail—and its detail matters. They have stapled it on to the motion for another bill and forced the debate on it, and the consequence is that it's not just that the opposition who will not have the chance to scrutinise it; the Australian people won't have the chance to scrutinise it. Of course, there will be no chance for those people who understand this legislation to step through it one by one.

But let's deal with the legislation now at hand, particularly the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026. There is a simple reality out there in Australia: Australians are desperately trying to find a pathway forward to be able to afford fuel. In this House we have gone through multiple stages of crisis, from complete denial, by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy on Monday, that there is a problem to on Thursday declaring a national crisis in this nation's parliament. As a consequence, Australians are now living the full consequences of a fuel crisis that stems from government denial. If they had taken it more seriously with a sense of urgency and prudence, we wouldn't be in a situation where residents in the electorate are now paying somewhere around $2.50 for unleaded and up to $3.50 for diesel. This is a huge problem that Australians are living with now, in the lead-up to Easter and over Saturday with sport, in being able to drive around the electorates of the country. The challenge for Australian households right now is they do not want to see price gouging impacting them.

In the lead-up to the bill being presented before the parliament, I understand that we unintentionally misled the House, because I understand that the Treasurer did offer a briefing to the office, but it was not relayed to me. This is a simple error, and so I want to correct the record.

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