Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

'There's nothing sneaky in it. Let's just get it through the parliament.' But the government just cannot operate in a bipartisan way. It always has to play politics. So what does it do? You get the Leader of the House coming in and saying, 'I'm going to attach this very complex bill to it as well.' It was introduced this morning—no briefings, no nothing. Why is it that you want to play politics during a national fuel crisis?

I say this, and I'm sure the people in the gallery will understand this: people in the community at the moment are deeply, deeply concerned with what is happening with this national fuel crisis. They're seeing bombs being dropped. They're seeing energy infrastructure being damaged. They've seen the price of diesel in this country hit $3.20. They've seen the price of petrol hit $2.60. They've seen the government say there's more fuel in the Australian economy than there was before the start of the war, and they just want to know: why, then, isn't the fuel getting to where it needs to get to, and why has the fuel price gone through the roof?

One of the things that's a really important part of this process is that, if people are price gouging, if people are hoarding fuel, then we need the ACCC to be able to look at it. If there are increased penalties to stop those things from happening, that's critically important, because mums and dads then won't be facing choices like, 'Okay, how many Easter eggs do I get?' versus, 'Can I afford that roast lamb to have for Easter Sunday?' This is what we're talking about here.

We made an offer of bipartisanship to say: 'The ACCC bill is very simple. Let's get it through the House into the Senate.' Yet what do we get? Once again, all you want to do is play politics. I ask you to please remember what is happening out there in the community. People are hurting. People are concerned. People are worried. They're worried about the secondary impacts of this fuel crisis. They're wondering about what it's going to mean for when they go into the supermarket—what it's going to mean for vegetable prices and what it's going to mean for meat prices. They worry every time they go and fill the car up: 'That $100 note or that $50 note—how many litres is it now going to get me? It won't get me enough.'

You have the Leader of the House come in here and say: 'Aren't I clever! I'll attach this bill I've introduced today to yours, and we won't let anyone be able to scrutinise it. That's clever, politically, isn't it! Ha-ha! Aren't I great!' Well, I say this to the government: that's not what the Australian people want to see at this time. There's a simple bill which will make a difference. Let's pass that, then let's look at the other bill. Let's have briefings. Let's look at that one properly. This game playing is treating the Australian people with contempt, and you should be ashamed.

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