Natasha Griggs (Solomon, Country Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to voice the anger and the concern of not only the people in my electorate but indeed all Territorians about the fuel pricing that we have today in the Territory. Territorians have paid much more at the fuel bowser than in any capital city, but in recent years the gap between prices in Darwin and prices in other cities has widened dramatically. With almost any product, a retailer who charges too much will find that the consumer stops buying. However, petrol is a notable exception because petrol is a necessity. When petrol prices rise, families still need to drive their children to schools and sports, they need to drive their cars to work; taxi drivers still need to fill their tanks with petrol; and, even if the cost of diesel goes up, courier and truck drivers still need to operate.

It is not unusual in my electorate of Solomon for a person living in Palmerston to commute to Darwin for work each day. That is roughly a 50-kilometre round-trip a day, five days a week. Add into the mix a social outing or two, grocery shopping and taking the kids to sport, and it is very easy for people in my electorate to go through one tank or possibly two tanks of fuel a week. It is for this reason that the people in the Top End are particularly angry that they are paying up to 30c more for a litre of fuel than in other parts of the country.

On Friday last week, 6 February, unleaded fuel in Sydney was 97.5c a litre. However, in Darwin, the cheapest fuel available was 126.9c a litre. So last Friday, on average, Darwin motorists were paying 128.9c, whereas in Sydney the figure was just 115.3c. Diesel in Darwin costs, on average, 131.3c a litre, but Sydney motorists can fill up for 119.6c.

We acknowledge that petrol pricing is not a simple issue and that the value of the Australian dollar, the price of crude oil, overseas supply-and-demand issues as well as taxation are all factors that contribute to the price that customers are paying at the bowser. These factors apply to everyone everywhere. However, one factor that has a considerable influence on price but varies from place to place is competition. As I said, last week, Sydney and Adelaide motorists enjoyed a discounting war between retailers, driving the cost of unleaded fuel below the wholesale terminal gate price. In Melbourne and Brisbane, the retail margins were less than 2c per litre, but my constituents in Solomon were paying, in some cases, 12 times more for every single litre of fuel. Retail prices topped wholesale prices by 24c for every litre. That is not really good enough.

My colleague the Northern Territory Chief Minister, Adam Giles, described this situation recently with a crude but effective metaphor involving a pineapple, but I do not think I will use that here today. I honestly cannot think of a better way to describe it. But the treatment of Territorians by the fuel retailers is just not good enough.

In the recent by-election in the Northern Territory's seat of Casuarina, this issue was brought very effectively to a head by the Country Liberals candidate, Dr Harry Kypreos. A sustained campaign by the Country Liberals, followed by a pricing summit that was convened by the Northern Territory government, brought some relief to motorists, with prices dropping significantly. However, the drop has not been sustained, and Territorians continue to pay more at the bowser relative to the rest of the country, as I said. Terminal gate prices in Darwin have differed from the national average by 3c to 4c over the last year, yet retail prices in Darwin were on average 21.6c per litre higher than the national capital city average. There is no reasonable explanation for that difference.

Last year, the coalition government took steps in the right direction on this issue, and our good friend the small business minister, Bruce Billson, ordered the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to monitor price costs and profits and report quarterly. As the elected representative of the people of Solomon I think Minister Billson and look forward to the results of that investigation. Given the massive disparity in fuel prices between the mainland capitals and the electorate of Solomon, I have written to the ACCC and requested, on behalf of my constituents, that the ACCC single out Darwin and Palmerston for special, detailed investigations.

As the hardworking member the Dobell—another good friend of ours, Deputy Speaker Hawke—has done, I have launched an online petition on my website. The website is natashagriggs.com.au. The purpose of the petition is to gather the support of the community so that we can fight to get reduced petrol prices at the bowser. I place on record my thanks to the hardworking member for Dobell for sharing her experiences in her fight for reduced petrol prices in regional New South Wales. I thank the federal minister for his interest in and support on this particular issue in the Northern Territory. I thank my colleagues in the Giles Northern Territory government for their advocacy to the ACCC in relation to petrol pricing in the Territory.

Territorians have paid far too much for far too long. With community support—by signing my petition—and through not only my advocacy but also that of the Northern Territory government and Minister Bruce Billson, I am confident that, if we have enough buy-in from the community, we will be successful in securing a petrol price monitoring site in the Northern Territory. So I encourage all Territorians to sign my petition. Let's fight for cheaper fuel in the Territory together—because I cannot do it alone; I do need the community to help me. I have already got help from Minister Billson. He has given the ACCC extra powers. I want the ACCC to use those powers and set up a monitoring site in the Northern Territory, because we want cheaper fuel and we deserve cheaper fuel.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for this debate has expired.

Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:00