Monique Ryan (Kooyong, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. Treasurer, you've directed the ACCC to crack down on fuel price gouging, but price gouging is not illegal in Australia. Prices are set by retailers, and drivers are still angry about getting ripped off at the bowser. You're cutting excises, but how can drivers be sure that retailers will cut prices?

Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'll come to the member for Kooyong's question. But the Deputy Prime Minister's from a fighting family, and he'll want me to say hello to the Volk, who's up there in the crowd. Thank you for joining us today.

This is obviously a very important question that the member for Kooyong asked, because it goes to our efforts to make sure that fuel suppliers and retailers aren't doing the wrong thing by Australian motorists and Australian truckies, and that's why we have substantially increased the powers of the ACCC and the penalties of the ACCC—so that they can come down like a tonne of bricks on anyone who is doing the wrong thing in our fuel markets. In doing that, we're coming after the sources of some of that gouging that the member is right to be concerned about.

When we came to office, we increased the penalties. We allowed the ACCC to issue on-the-spot fines. Just recently in the parliament we increased penalties further, to up to $100 million, and that's because we share the concerns which are legitimately raised that, at a time of extraordinary price volatility in global oil markets and Australian petrol markets, the onus is on us to prevent the kind of gouging that the member for Kooyong is talking about.

Similarly, I've just actually signed a letter in the last half hour or so to make sure that the ACCC is particularly attentive to the change that we announced this afternoon to make sure that the benefits of the change to the fuel excise are passed on to Australian motorists and truckies and to make sure that they're doing the right thing there as well. So it's an important question and a big part of the work that we're doing, but not the only part of the work that we're doing, to make sure the ACCC can look after the interests of our motorists and truckies.