John Murphy (Lowe, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thoroughly endorse the speech of the member for Gilmore. I was very proud last year that my nephew Louis selflessly gave one of his kidneys to an old school mate who was suffering renal failure. The quality of life of his mate Bill has improved markedly thanks to Louis’s selfless act.

In my electorate of Lowe, which has one of the highest proportions of households suffering from mortgage and rental stress in Australia, even moderate increases in grocery and petrol prices can have a devastating effect. Despite the evidence of financial stress being obvious in our everyday experiences, the proof has also been borne out in statistical surveys. A recent Household Expenditure Survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the cost of living has outstripped the Consumer Price Index by eight per cent between 1999 and 2004. Despite the previous government’s bluster about budget surpluses in the national account, it failed to pay attention to whether the gains achieved nationally were being reflected at a household level.

Two common complaints to my electorate office concern high petrol prices and grocery prices. Rather than doing everything possible to put downward pressure on these prices, the Howard government simply ignored the dual petrol-grocery problem. It is vital that governments anticipate problems and act on them. It is a virtue to be proactive, not reactive. That is why the Rudd government has initiated a review into grocery prices and appointed a petrol price commissioner.

With respect to petrol prices, local families in my electorate of Lowe have funnelled record levels of household income into their petrol tanks. Since 2001, petrol prices have increased by an average of 53 per cent, from 85c a litre to $1.30 a litre. Families in my electorate are facing the petrol price pinch every day. Many of them accept that world oil prices have had an influence on domestic prices and are doing their best to deal with the increases. Nonetheless, they do not accept, nor should they have to, the usual price gouging in the lead-up to public holidays, including the Easter long weekend. We will be watching the oil companies this forthcoming Easter. They are also entitled to be suspicious of bowser prices skyrocketing while world oil prices go down.

That is why it is so vital for the petrol commissioner to formally monitor and investigate petrol prices at all times. The petrol commissioner will address the alarming lack of transparency in petrol price setting and make sure sceptical families are actually getting a fair go. Oil executives have certainly not earned the right to be above scrutiny and accountability, yet the opposition, if it were to have its way, would ensure they remained untouchable. This initiative may not result in lower prices, but it will ensure that my constituents are actually paying a fair price for their petrol—not a cent more.

With respect to grocery prices, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s national grocery prices inquiry has been initiated by the Rudd government to ensure all Australians are able to afford life’s most basic necessities. The ACCC is taking a broad approach to its inquiry to ensure all aspects of the process chain are assessed. It will include wide consultation with retailers, farmers, consumer groups and other interested parties. The startling statistics tell us that this inquiry is long overdue—the price of groceries rose by 43.6 per cent in just one decade. To put this in perspective, the rates of food inflation in the US and the UK over that same period were only 25.1 per cent and 11.6 per cent respectively. Australians have been getting less in their trolley and paying more and more for it.

Despite it being a virtue to remain vigilant and proactive, the lesson has not been learnt by the opposition. Even today, the opposition baulks at attempts to ensure families are not being ripped off at the checkout counter or petrol pump. It has become increasingly apparent that Australian voters had to vote the Howard government out because they could quite literally not afford to keep them in. Constituents I have spoken with have welcomed the government’s attempts to keep petrol companies and supermarkets honest. They, too, agree that the likes of Woolworths, Coles, Caltex and Shell should not be above scrutiny and accountability. My constituents in Lowe are, at the very least, comfortable with the knowledge that these initiatives will make it harder for oil and retail executives to rip them off at the checkout counter or petrol bowser. I congratulate the Rudd government in this initiative.

Harry Jenkins (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! It being 9 pm, the debate is interrupted.