Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

The issue that is being discussed in every house in my electorate, around every dinner table, is fuel—both the cost of fuel and whether people can access fuel. Certainly, there are many service stations in my electorate, because we have so many independent distributors. But being without fuel, or having to effectively ration the stock that they have, is causing enormous anxiety in regional Australia—whether you're a dairy farmer, a grape grower trying to get all the grapes off the vine or a broadacre farmer thinking about putting in your next crop and hoping that you're going to get some rain in April—and that's part of the reason why there is such a fear and such a need to stockpile fuel. Now, I know that the government has told people not to stockpile fuel, but, when your livelihood depends on fuel, when your livelihood depends on having that diesel, when the animals on your property depend on that diesel for their ability to survive, it is a precarious situation. That's the issue around having fuel. I know that the government's National Cabinet has been meeting regularly, including on Monday—something that, of course, I absolutely support—but there must be a strategic plan about how to get fuel to the regions. Because it's the regions that grow the food. It's the regions that feed the cities.

I might just say, to those who are not growing the food, that it's not like we in regional Australia can just get up 10 minutes earlier and get on that bus or get on that train. We have very limited public transport across regional Australia, so we are reliant upon our cars, we are reliant upon our utes and we are reliant upon our generators. That is just life in regional Australia. So I would urge the government, when it meets with all of the state and territory leaders, to put the needs of regional Australia absolutely at the front of the queue with respect to fuel.

We need to talk about the fuel excise. The fuel excise, with this massive increase in fuel prices at the moment, is crippling Australians. Right now, every Australian pays 52.6c in the litre in government tax for every litre of fuel they buy. On top of that, there is GST on that excise—so that's a double tax—and then GST on the whole price per litre. So, really, you could say the Australian government, between GST and fuel excise, is getting the best part of nearly a dollar for every litre of fuel. The member for Makin is looking at me inquisitively. When you take 52.6c and add the GST component of around 30c—when fuel is $3.30 a litre in many parts of Australia—we're heading to more than 80c, Member for Makin. That is just under a dollar for every litre that you buy, as far as I'm concerned. So it is a huge expense for people—again, particularly for people living in the regions, who have no other choice.

The government supported the coalition when there was a halving of the fuel excise during COVID, and that had an immediate relief effect. The government did support that, when they were in opposition. At that time, I think fuel was about $1.80 a litre. In many parts of my electorate, it's well over $3 a litre. So it would just be logical that this would be a primary consideration for the government—that we look to address the fuel excise and provide that immediate relief to families right now. I know the government said: 'Look, we're providing tax cuts in the middle of the year. We do provide support for child care.' How does that help a pensioner or an unemployed person? They're not getting those tax cuts. If you're a pensioner, you're probably not putting a child in child care. So I say to the government: urgently address the fuel excise. We can do this now. It will have an enormous impact on Australians.

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