Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Right now, Australian households are under a lot of pressure. Like many around the world, we are dealing with a sudden, sharp spike in fuel prices that is driven by events far beyond our shores. When global instability pushes prices up here, at home, it is households and small businesses who feel the pinch almost immediately. The view of this government is very clear. Australians should not be left to shoulder the cost of a war on the other side of the world, and that is why the government is stepping in to provide relief. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to send shock waves through global energy markets. International supply chains are severely strained, crude oil prices are incredibly volatile, and today oil is trading at about twice the level it was at the beginning of the year. That severe volatility flows through our domestic system. It shows up, and has been showing up, at the local bowser. It's raising transport bills and, ultimately, the price of everyday goods on supermarket shelves.

Families are watching the numbers on the petrol pump click higher and higher—knowing it eats into their weekly household budget. We know that, for many hardworking Australians, fuel is not an optional extra in their budget. You need it to get to work, to run your small business, to drop the kids off at school and to stay connected to your family and local community. When prices rise this sharply and suddenly, working people feel boxed in. They feel like they simply can't catch a break. That is exactly what this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026, seeks to address today. We understand how hard it is out there in the suburbs and the regions across our great and vast nation. This legislation gives immediate effect to the major announcement made yesterday by the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. We moved quickly because the circumstances demanded it.

Whilst those on that side of the House focus on advancing their own political interests, we on this side of the House remain focused on advancing the national interest—assuring Australians that we act with purpose and responsibility. That is why the targeted measures contained in this bill are temporary, highly targeted and squarely focused on getting ordinary Australians through a difficult period of intense global disruption. Importantly, we are doing this without undermining our budget discipline or compromising our long-term economic reforms, which are setting Australia up for the future ahead. This bill is carefully drafted and does three distinct and key things. First, it halves the fuel excise for a strict three-month period. Second, it provides direct, tangible and practical support to the critical freight and transport sector. Third, it gives the government the necessary flexibility to do even more if global economic conditions deteriorate further.

Schedule 1 clearly sets out the main fuel excise measure. From 1 April to 30 June 2026, so from midnight tonight, the fuel excise and excise equivalent customs duty on both petrol and diesel will be slashed in half. The current rate will drop from 52.6c a litre down to 26.3c a litre. For motorists, the daily math is pretty straightforward. A typical 65-litre tank of fuel will cost nearly $19 less to fill up. That financial relief is immediate. There's no complex red tape, and there's no waiting for a government rebate to arrive. It applies at the pump, which directly benefits anyone who needs to fill up their car. Whether you live in the outer suburbs, in the regional towns or drive incredibly long distances for work, you will see the benefit. This specific relief does not sit in isolation. It is a core part of our comprehensive and broad plan to ease the financial pressure on working Australians. This measure works hand-in-hand with our tax cuts for every single taxpayer. We redesigned those tax cuts to ensure that middle- and low-income earners receive maximum benefit. Those tax cuts are ensuring that Australians can keep much more of what they earn every single week.

Furthermore, this fuel relief sits right alongside our historic investments into Medicare. We're delivering more free bulk-billed visits to the local doctor when young families need it most. We've established a nationwide network of urgent care clinics so parents can get their kids seen for free without waiting in crowded hospital emergency rooms.

This bill puts a bit of extra breathing room back into the weekly household budget at a time where people are experiencing it rough and every dollar counts. We are providing confidence and relief because we on this side of the House have been steadfastly focused on cost-of-living relief every single day that we've been in office.

This bill also recognises that rising fuel costs affect much more than the individual motorist driving to work. When our hardworking truckies pay more for their diesel, those inflated costs unfortunately bleed into our wider economy. They show up in weekly grocery bills, in crucial building supplies for new homes and in the final retail prices for basic, everyday, essential household items. That is why, for the same three-month period, the heavy vehicle road user charge will be reduced to zero. This move delivers a combined saving of 32.4c per litre for our heavy vehicle transport operators. For a typical large freight truck with a 400-litre tank, that represents a saving of around $130 every single time they stop to fill up. On a long-haul route from Melbourne to Brisbane, those savings rapidly compound, protecting the tight margin of transport businesses everywhere.

Furthermore, we are sensibly deferring the previously scheduled six per cent increase to the road user charge. We understand that new operational costs on our vital freight operators during a time of global energy crunch can only feed the challenge. Supporting our truckies through this time is about keeping our supermarket shelves fully stocked and our retail prices down for everyone. When freight starts costing more, every single consumer pays the final price. We recognise that.

Schedule 2 of the bill gives us essential economic flexibility. It formally allows the Treasurer to legally reduce the fuel excise by 50 per cent while this period of unpredictable circumstances requires it. Global energy markets are volatile and unpredictable right now. Responsible government leadership means always having the right policy tools kept safely in reserve ready to act if and when the Australian people need it. This includes carefully adjusting settings to successfully facilitate states and territories returning additional GST revenue flowing directly from these high oil prices. Schedule 3 ensures the Minister for Transport can quickly make temporary regulatory changes to the fuel tax credits and the road user charge when volatile situations need intervention.

We saw back in 2022 that wholesale prices can change quickly. It can take a short temporary period, usually one to two weeks, for those reductions to fully flow through to the local bowser. This brief delay depends largely on local storage capacity and regional fuel delivery schedules. However, Treasury reliably estimates that this major reduction will directly reduce our national headline inflation rate significantly. Specifically, it could reduce headline inflation by around half of a full percentage point through the critical weeks leading to the June quarter 2026. At a difficult time when global inflationary pressures remain stubborn, that specific reduction is meaningful economic intervention.

Since coming to office this government has acted responsibly to consistently deliver targeted cost-of-living relief while carefully managing the broader national economy. We have methodically delivered more than $114 billion in budget savings and necessary spending reprioritisations across multiple economic budget updates. It is exactly those hard-won disciplined budget savings that have deliberately made adequate financial room for practical and immediate public support, like we are doing today, without irresponsibly adding to long-term domestic inflationary pressure. We are releasing more fuel from our minimum stock obligations, strongly backing our critical domestic oil refineries and significantly strengthening the ACCC to crack down hard on corporate price gouging. The ACCC will rigorously ensure that these vital fuel savings are passed on directly to everyday motorists at the local petrol pump.

Whilst we cannot control international conflicts, we absolutely can control how we respond to them here at home. We are responding by always backing working Australians. We are responding by actively supporting small family businesses. This bill is measured, responsible and an immediate economic response to a global crisis. It delivers real financial relief, it supports our most vital national supply chains and it reliably helps local families balance tight household budgets during these tough and demanding times. I commend the bill to the House.

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