Joanne Ryan (Lalor, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support both pieces of legislation before us in this cognated debate. For those at home, particularly for the people I represent in Melbourne's west, it's worth making a few comments so as to understand why it is that we're talking about two pieces of legislation this morning. It's because those opposite came in this morning to demand a debate on one piece of legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026, and, in the process, said that they would support any legislation that was going to assist Australians in the situation we find ourselves as a result of the war in the Middle East. Of course, there's another piece of legislation before us, the Fair Work Amendment (Fairer Fuel) Bill 2026, that we've therefore called on this morning for debate so that we can get both of these pieces of legislation passed through the parliament as quickly as possible to support Australians.

I want to start with that second piece of legislation, which is about supporting truckies across Australia, something that's close to my heart as someone who had truck drivers in the family and something that's really close to my electorate's heart as it has many transport workers and many who work in transport and logistics. Every conversation we have here in this place about that system, whether it be for truck drivers or for those doing the loading and unloading, means hundreds of individuals in my community who work in this space. In fact, I was having a conversation about it with a next-door neighbour as late as Friday evening.

The Albanese government is helping Australia's trucking industry manage the impacts of the war in the Middle East by ensuring that truckies and transport operators are better protected from fuel price rises. This is incredibly important, and this legislation goes to the heart of that. It sees the government again stepping up to help create fairness through the supply chain and manage the impacts of the global fuel challenges. In short, it means that, rather than wait six months to be allowed to respond to things, the minister will be able to give people permission to do that quickly and easily and be more responsive. So it's a very important piece of legislation, and I'm pleased that we're bringing it in today for discussion and to pass.

The other piece, of course, is the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026. This allows penalties of up to $100 million for those who are found to be in breach of the Treasury Laws Amendment Act by the ACCC. It works quite simply as a deterrent to stop businesses from price-gouging Australian citizens. Obviously, everyone in this chamber supports the ACCC in pursuing anyone found to be doing these things. In response to the fuel price increases, we have raised this to $50 million and now again here to $100 million to ensure that we've got legislation and that the CQC is empowered to support Australians and prevent them being taken advantage of by companies who want to do these things.

I want to go to a couple of points here. The first is those opposite claiming that the government is acting too slowly and in the next breath that the government is acting too quickly—a theme we have seen since January, I must say. As someone who was here and who remembers very clearly news of the pandemic breaking in this parliament as I sat on the opposite side, I can attest that the Labor Party in opposition was supportive of government because Australians needed us to be supportive of government. I ask those opposite to put down their weapons and be supportive of Australians in this instance. I note some jocularity coming from the other side. You don't get to call something a crisis and then play politics with it. You can't do both things and be perceived to be reasonable.

The government has already introduced new laws to double penalties for petrol companies for price gouging. We've convened National Cabinet, we've appointed a national fuel supply task force coordinator, we've begun the release of 20 per cent of Australia's fuel reserves, we've changed petrol standards to get more fuel flowing and we've changed diesel standards so Australia's refineries can supply more diesel. The list of the actions that this government has taken goes on and on. I call on those opposite to support both of these bills, support the government and support Australians.

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