Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Well, the good news today is that the government has finally decided to take the fuel crisis seriously, and do what the coalition advised last week, and cut the fuel excise and the road user charge. This is a positive outcome.

But the seriousness of the situation needed to be hammered home by many stories of real hardship across Australia—especially in regional areas, from dairy farmers to grade 6 students. I'll give just one more example. I was contacted by a husband-and-wife team who run an owner-driver transport business in my electorate, delivering grain and—when they can find it—fertiliser, across northern Victoria and southern New South Wales. Today, at $3.29 per litre for diesel, they are paying $1,320 for the 400 litres they use every day. That's an increase of $620 to fill their truck. They told me: 'We work hard and we love keeping Australia moving, but we cannot continue to operate very long if this continues.'

It shouldn't have taken sustained pressure from the opposition for the government to finally see sense and act on cutting petrol tax and the heavy vehicle user charge, but it is good that it has happened. But there is more to do on delivery to farming areas. And wheat in the ground and milk for lattes needs diesel to get to the regions.