Phillip Barresi (Deakin, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I challenge the member for Holt to ask his Labor colleague the Premier of Victoria to call for the GST component of petrol prices to be made an agenda item at the next COAG meeting. Will the Labor premiers be willing to forgo the GST take from the petrol bowsers? With $5 billion at stake, I doubt it. We should be asking why the Premier of Victoria is not doing the same thing that the Premier of Queensland was able to do after serious pressure from the federal Treasurer. Mr Bracks understands the windfall that his government receives from high petrol prices, which is around $2.5 billion this year. The higher the price, the greater the sum of money he receives. There is the challenge. The member for Holt and the member for Batman are both members of the Labor Party in Victoria of some influence. They should be using that influence to direct the Premier of Victoria to hand back some of the GST component, or at least to put it on the COAG meeting agenda the next time it comes around.

High petrol prices are of concern to all in this House. We should acknowledge the pain that members of the public are going through at the moment as a result of the increases. The people of south-eastern Melbourne would be better served if the member for Holt were to join those on this side of the House in demanding that the GST revenue that the various Labor governments receive is put back in the pockets of the drivers, as currently happens in the state of Queensland. (Time expired)