Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Whether you're a teacher commuting from the mountains to a school on the plains; a disability worker driving a client you support; a turf farmer, construction worker or truckie operating diesel vehicles; or a family just trying to keep the wheels turning, the price at the pump is hurting and availability has been hard. I know we've had petrol stations in my electorate out of one or more fuels. It's constantly changing and in flux as the supply continues to flow through.

The Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026 and the Fair Work Amendment (Fairer Fuel) Bill 2026 are designed to add to the work we've already done to respond very promptly to the world environment that we're seeing. They're designed to do two things. The first is to protect consumers from petrol price gouging, and the second is to provide the trucking industry with a way to respond and manage the impacts of the war. We are less interested in blaming someone for what's happened and more interested in solutions, and I really urge those opposite to support the solutions. These are two key parts of the things that we can do in this unprecedented situation. All they seem to be saying is, 'You're doing it too fast and you should have done it before.' I'm really not interested in debating that rhetoric.

Let's look at the practical things that the Albanese government is doing. One is the new legislation to provide for bigger penalties for misconduct in the fuel sector to help consumers get a fair go at the petrol pump. The conflict overseas should never be an excuse to profit off Australians. We're putting petrol companies on notice and this Treasury laws amendment to double the penalties does literally that. It doubles the penalties for false or misleading conduct and cartel behaviour to a maximum of $100 million per offence across the economy. We'd already increased penalties to $50 million—that's five times higher than what they were when we came to government—and we've given the ACCC more tools, such as extending petrol price monitoring powers and the ability to issue on-the-spot fines. This is a really important step, and it comes on top of the other action we're taking to address fuel affordability and security.

We're boosting the fuel supply by releasing 20 per cent of the baseline minimum stockholding obligation for petrol and diesel, and that is already beginning. We're getting more fuels into the market by temporarily amending the fuel standards, and we're engaging international partners to strengthen the supply chains and fuel security. The work we've done with Singapore in the last couple of days is a very good example of that. That is one side of this legislation that is about making a practical difference.

The second is around truckies. My electorate has truck drivers all over the place in every possible sector, and what we know is that they haven't had the tools to respond. Before the chamber is an amendment to the Fair Work Act to allow truckies and road transport businesses to make an emergency application for a contractual chain order to deal with the current spike in fuel prices. Instead of something that would normally take more than six months, we want this to be done fast. The minimum six months will no longer apply when there is an emergency declaration made, and this gives the minister the powers to do that. As the Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations said, this is about us stepping up to help create fairness through the supply chain and manage the impacts of global fuel challenges and helping truckies and transport operators be protected from fuel price rises. This is a second really important piece of legislation being put to the parliament.

We are asking those opposite to get on with it and allow this to go through the parliament in a very prompt way. It adds to multiple announcements we've made to support getting more diesel flowing. One of those that I want to focus on is the minor adjustment to diesel standards. This is going to support truckies in my community. The six-month adjustment lowers what's known as the flashpoint for diesel from 61.5 degrees Celsius to 60.5 degrees Celsius, and what it means is that we can increase the diesel supply options from refiners and from international sources.

It's about having more flexibility, and that's exactly what's needed here—flexibility by a government that's saying, 'What are the things we can quickly put in place to support our industries adapt and be flexible to the conditions they're facing?' I commend the bill.

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