Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer him to the comments in today’s Launceston Examiner by the Tasmanian premier that he will be lobbying hard for a cut in fuel excise. Will the Prime Minister listen to his Labor mate and adopt our plan to take pressure off motorists and inflation by reducing fuel excise by 5c a litre?

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

I would ask those opposite—

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

Order! The Leader of the Opposition!

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

to reflect long and hard about their first action in the Senate, which is on the luxury car tax.

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

The Leader of the Opposition! The Leader of the Opposition!

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

The first priority legislatively for those opposite is to send a message to working families, pensioners and carers that they, the Liberal Party, stand for cheaper Porsches. That is their message: cheaper Porsches, cheaper Ferraris and cheaper Rolls-Royces.

Warren Truss (Wide Bay, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The question is about a cut in fuel excise. It has nothing to do with the issues the Prime Minister is talking about.

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

The Leader of the Nationals will resume his seat. I call the Prime Minister.

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

In terms of the cost-of-living pressures on working families, you have groceries, you have petrol and you have interest rates—and the impact which that has on home mortgages and rents—as well as the other challenges which working families face in balancing their budgets. The measure that was put forward by the Leader of the Opposition in his budget reply, which I notice was opposed by the member for Wentworth, and I think the member for Higgins and the member for Flinders—have you sorted that one out yet, by the way, as to whether it is official opposition policy?

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

The Prime Minister’s answer will go to the question.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. If the Prime Minister cannot answer the question, he should save Australia and not give us any more gas.

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

Order! That is not a point of order.

Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Give us an answer.

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

Order! That is not a point of order, and I warn the member for North Sydney.

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

Again, it is a relevant question in terms of the future leadership of the Liberal Party. If they change to the member for Wentworth, will this policy they currently have be sustained? It is an entirely legitimate question.

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

The Leader of the Opposition! I warn the Leader of the Opposition!

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

It is an entirely legitimate question because the member for Wentworth had been backgrounding at the time how much he opposed the policy—I think the member for Higgins as well, supported by the member for Flinders. I think, on the calculations put forward by those opposite at the time, they said that this would assist working families by about $2 a week. I think that was the figure used by the Leader of the Opposition. I would say this to those opposite: the measure you are about to vote against in the Senate on the Medicare levy surcharge equals about $20 a week. That is about $1,200 a year based on the income profile I referred to earlier in the question.

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

The Leader of the Opposition!

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

Those opposite stand here and say on this measure that they are concerned about the price impacts on working families. We are offering, in effect, a tax cut for a very large number of those working families; you stand for a tax hike. The inconsistency in these positions is extraordinary.