Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026 today. I want to begin by acknowledging the concern in our community around what is going on in the Middle East. Of course, what we're speaking about today is the action we're taking to ensure the availability and affordability of fuel, but I want to first acknowledge that what I'm hearing from my community is concern and uncertainty around this war and its impacts. In particular, I met with some people yesterday whose families in Iran have been unable to contact them. People are really feeling concerned about the destruction and loss of innocent life that comes from any war. I want to begin by acknowledging that. The impacts of this are being felt far and wide at the moment, and by all Australians who have been seeing the increase in the price of fuel.

I also want to respond to the member for Maranoa. I want to say that there is not one person in our government who takes for granted the critical role of farmers, truckies and people in regional Australia. We are doing everything we can at the moment to ensure that all Australians have access to the fuel they need. While I represent a city and may not have many farmers in my electorate, I have many farmers in my family and also an understanding of where food and fibre come from, as everyone in this government does. We have been doing everything we can to ensure that our country keeps moving.

I am so tired of this false dichotomy. I know it's what the Nationals need to do, but I am tired of them pretending somehow that we are not listening. I am so tired of the coalition taking every opportunity to create a culture war where there doesn't need to be one. We are in a crisis, and our government is stepping up to address that. We are helping Australians feel confident and to get on with their lives, with their businesses, with taking care of their families and with getting to their jobs, and we've got people over there stirring up fear and confusion. Maybe they should take the message from the last two elections that people want to see their elected representatives taking leadership. There is a time to be statesmanlike and to not try to benefit politically from a crisis.

The latest piece of action that we are taking is to reduce the fuel excise, halving it for the next three months so that every litre of petrol and diesel that people need is going to be more affordable for them. Everyone in this place will have been hearing from their communities about the uncertainty around fuel, the cost of fuel and the impact that that is having. Canberrans are not immune; we have had petrol stations running out of fuel here as well. So this is really a welcome step that our government is taking.

The member for Maranoa was talking about the companies ripping people off—well, that is the other thing we have taken a really strong focus on, making sure we have doubled the penalties for price gouging, as well as tasking the ACCC with very closely monitoring the price of fuel, ensuring that no-one is going to use this to exploit people with this impact on prices around the country.

When fuel prices spike, as they have in the last few weeks, people feel it immediately and they feel it hard. This is part of our government's direct and practical response. It is targeted and it will deliver real relief at the bowser right now. The bill halves the fuel excise and the equivalent customs duty that applies to most fuels, from 52.6c per litre to 26.3c per litre. For the average commuter, that will be the equivalent of about $19 off a standard 65-litre tank of petrol or diesel. This is a meaningful saving for people experiencing price shocks as a result of the war and will be felt by every Australian at the bowser.

The bill also provides the Treasurer with the additional flexibility to go further if required: to reduce the excise or equivalent customs duty by more than 50 per cent, should conditions deteriorate. It means that the government is not locked into a fixed response, as an evolving global situation continues to unfold.

The bill also makes changes to the heavy vehicle road user charge, both increases and decreases, with appropriate flexibility, and suspends the limitations on increases to that charge for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years. Crucially, in practice, what that means is that it has been reduced to zero for three months. That is because we appreciate the role that truckies and trucking have in keeping our economy moving, and this is to ensure that that can keep happening. This is a combined saving for truck operators of 32.4c per litre, 26.3c at the pump, and a further increase in fuel tax credits of 6c per litre that they will receive when they lodge their BAS. For an operator filling a 400-litre tank, that is approximately $130 in savings per fill.

Our changes will give operators breathing room and will mean the whole supply chain breathes a little easier. I welcome the support of the Australian chamber of commerce, the National Road Transport Association and industry groups, right across the country, for these changes.

We've also made clear that we expect fuel retailers to pass these savings on, and the ACCC will be monitoring this closely. As the Treasurer said, if retailers do the wrong thing by Australian motorists and truckies, the ACCC will come down on them like a ton of bricks. We've empowered the ACCC by increasing their surveillance and monitoring powers, and we're increasing the penalties.

The opposition have been loudly claiming credit for this policy. Let's be clear about what actually happened. This government acted decisively, at scale, through National Cabinet, with the states and territories aligned and a fully-costed package that delivers relief without recklessness. Those opposite called for similar measures, but proposed to fund them by gutting Australia's clean energy transition. Their plan would have ended the electric car discount, reversed green hydrogen subsidies and tax credits, and paused the home battery scheme. In other words, they wanted to make Australians more dependent on fossil fuels, as the price of getting short-term relief for a fossil fuel crisis.

Now, if there's anything we can learn from this crisis at the moment, it is that we need to be less reliant on fossil fuels. People, at the moment, who are lucky enough to have an electric vehicle are not worried about where they will get their fuel. This is, if anything, a message that the transition to renewable energy cannot come fast enough. Australia's reliance on fossil fuels exposes us to crises like these. Moving to a renewable future would mean that Australians would be more protected from global oil price shocks. A few years ago, Scott Morrison said that EVs would 'end the weekend', but, clearly, it's people with EVs at the moment who are less worried about their weekends. The policy of those opposite is not serious energy policy. It's an ideological obsession with fossil fuels that would see Australia go backwards.

And let's think about what cutting the EV incentives would mean. Australians are adopting electric vehicles at staggering rates. Total EV sales grew by 38 per cent in 2025, compared to 2024, with more than 157,000 EVs sold. EVs last year reached 13.1 per cent of new car sales, up from 9.6 per cent the year before, which brings Australia's total EV fleet to more than 454,000 vehicles. The Electric Vehicle Council has directly credited the Albanese government's electric car discount as a key driver of this uptake. The government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard has also seen a huge uplift in the number of models available, which jumped from 56 in 2022 to 160 by the end of last year, including utes and commercial vans. In 2022, there were only two EVs under $40,000; now, there are around 10—and, for the first time, there is even a model under $30,000. That is great news, because it needs to be something that is accessible to all Australians, as people want to be part of the transition to renewable energy.

Just think for a second how much worse this fuel crisis would be if those EVs driving on Australian roads were replaced by petrol or diesel cars: it would only add to it. And, since this war began, demand for EVs has only increased. Carsales's data shows that EV searches nearly tripled from February to March 2026. Australians get it; those opposite are living in the past. Doing nothing is not a choice this government—

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