Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Hansard source

Yes, as my colleague Senator Collins says, it is economic vandalism at its worst. But we have had another series of pronouncements from the Liberal-National Party opposition which pose an even greater threat to the budget surplus. We know that, last month, the interim opposition leader, Dr Nelson, announced a 5c cut in excise on petrol. Last week, we had the member for Aston, Mr Pearce, doubling it to 10c. In the last news cycle, we had the leader of the National Party, Mr Truss, quadrupling it—Mr Truss proposed to quadruple the cut in petrol tax to 20c. So they announced the policy some five weeks ago, then doubled it last week and then quadrupled it. But the problem is that they have never costed it. What would be the cost of these continual bids of the cut to fuel taxes? If we look at the original announcement by the interim Leader of the Opposition, Dr Nelson, the 5c would cost $1.8 billion, or some $7.2 billion—