Claire Chandler (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026. Let us be abundantly clear. This bill exists because Australia is in a fuel crisis, and the Albanese Labor government failed to act early enough to prevent it. The coalition will not oppose tougher enforcement, but it is not going to pretend that doubling penalties fixes the underlying problem that Australians are facing at the bowser today. This bill is the result of failure. It comes to this parliament only after fuel prices have spiralled beyond control and after Australians have already started to pay the price. The coalition supports staff enforcement, and it always has, but good policy anticipates problems rather than reacts after the damage is done. The coalition will not oppose this bill today, but it will use this opportunity to hold the Labor Albanese government accountable for a serious and growing cost-of-living crisis.

This bill proposes to double the maximum penalties available for breaches of competition and consumer law. That is a significant change and is one that the parliament should examine carefully. Penalties matter. They are meant to deter serious misconduct. Simply increasing penalties does not on its own create deterrence. What matters is whether those penalties are targeted, proportionate and backed by evidence and sound policy. Those questions matter even more in the economic environment that Australians are living in today. Australia is facing a genuine national fuel crisis. In many parts of the country, petrol prices are about $2.50 a litre, if not more, and diesel is well over $3 a litre and rising. Prices are changing so fast that these figures are very quickly outdated. In fact, they might be outdated even now. This hurts families, farmers, freight operators, manufacturers, small businesses and entire regional communities across this country. Australians understand that global pressures exist. But when those pressures hit Australians expect clarity, urgency and leadership from their government.

Instead, in recent weeks, Australians have been told different things at different times by different ministers while fuel prices have continued to climb higher and higher each and every day. This is why Australians are fast losing trust in this government when it comes to fuel. This government didn't warn Australians. They didn't act early. Let us not forget that their solution was to tell people to buy less fuel. This fuel crisis didn't emerge overnight. The warning signs were there, and this government chose not to act. That does raise a serious question about whether what we are debating today is considered reform or simply a reactive response to a crisis that this government has failed to manage. Doubling penalties is by definition retrospective. It punishes misconduct after the damage is already done. It will not put one extra litre of fuel into the Australian market, and it will do nothing to lower Australia's fuel prices today. That doesn't mean the penalties are unimportant, but we must be honest with Australians about what this bill can do and what this bill cannot do.

The ACCC already has significant enforcement powers, and courts already impose serious penalties when misconduct is proven. That makes this government's delay impossible to explain, because if these tools existed all along then why did the government wait until Australians were paying record prices to act? The coalition's position is clear. We support strong enforcement. We support penalties that deter real misconduct. But we don't want to see enforcement being used to mask policy failure. That is why, while we will support this bill today, we will continue to hold the government to account for its failures in regard to this fuel crisis, because this is a real crisis that Australians are facing right now. It is a crisis that is affecting households, small businesses and entire sectors of the economy. As I say, for that reason the coalition is not going to obstruct necessary measures, but we are not going to stay silent while Australians pay record prices because this government acted too late, spoke too loosely and is now legislating after the fact.