Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to petrol prices in Sale, where residents are paying over $1.50 for petrol, and in Wonthaggi, where they are paying nearly $1.60—159.9c. Why did the Prime Minister say, after only six months, that he has done all he can for the people of Sale and Wonthaggi, and why is the Prime Minister ignoring his own energy minister, who said that Fuelwatch is anticompetitive, will hurt small business and will leave Australians with higher petrol prices?

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. People in regional Australia, such as in the area of Sale and Wonthaggi, which the honourable member has just referred to, like those across the country, are doing it tough with petrol prices and the general cost of living.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The interjection was, ‘Why didn’t you do something?’ Petrol prices since 2001, when those opposite made an adjustment to the excise, have gone up by about 50 per cent. We have been in office for five or six months. They were in office for 12 years. From 2001 to 2007 strikes me as being about six years. What did those opposite do in those six years on petrol prices? What did they do on excise? What did they do on GST? What did they do on competition policy? What did they do with a petrol price commissioner? What did they do on any of these matters to empower consumers? Answer: zero, zero, zero and zero. So after 12 years in office and six years since the adjustment in 2001 there has been not a single piece of action. This is so very consistent with what those opposite say about any matter of public debate in this parliament. They say that in six months this government is responsible for attending to all the matters which they left unattended for a decade-plus. I find it remarkable.

Turning to rural and regional Australia, the impact of petrol prices there is significant because people travel longer distances. That is why it is very important that the government does everything it can to ensure that—through our family support package delivered through the budget, our payments of $900 in excess of those delivered in the previous Howard government to seniors, our $500 delivered in excess of other payments and, on top of that, $2,100 delivered in excess of payments to those in receipt of carers allowance and carers payments—we use measures that are designed to assist families and to assist individuals under financial pressure. Of course, when you look at the added pressure which comes with petrol prices and add that to grocery prices and the others, it is very tough to make the budget balance. But our response as a responsible government is to make sure that we are delivering through the tax system, delivering through child care, delivering through the education tax refund and delivering through enhanced payments to pensioners and carers—and ensuring that we have done all these things in a responsible economic manner.

On top of that, looking to the long term, we have undertaken, for the first time in a quarter of a century plus, a comprehensive commission of inquiry into the tax income support and retirement income system. That is the responsible way to go. The irresponsible way to go is to say, ‘I’ve got a budget reply coming up; I’ll reach up on to the shelf, pluck something down, call it a 5c excise arrangement,’ then say the next day that you have not costed it, and then add to it the fact that you have the member for Flinders, the member for Higgins, the member for Mayo and the member for wherever else opposed to this particular measure. That is not an alternative policy; that is a piece of short-term retail politics to get you over the hump of the budget reply. We have a responsible course of action on this and we are determined to implement it.