Jane Hume (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations) Share this | Hansard source

This morning, according to reports, there are over 870 petrol stations across Australia that have run out of one or more types of petrol. The average price of diesel is now $3.20 per litre. The average price of unleaded is $2.80 per litre. Yet, when the coalition raised this crisis some weeks ago now, Labor ministers told this chamber that there was nothing to see here. In fact, Minister Ayres dismissed it as 'far-right extremist scaremongering'. I would say, on behalf of all Australians, it doesn't feel like scaremongering today. Today the government can't get their legislation passed fast enough.

Industry have been crying out for help for weeks, and they've proposed some very practical and sensible solutions. Is this legislation that the government have presented to us today part of that practical solution? Is it going to cut the taxes on fuel to give immediate relief? No, it's not going to do that. Is the legislation that the government is bringing for us today to reduce the road user charge paid by truckies? No, it's not going to do that. Is it going to give immediate relief to farmers who are paying record prices to run their farms and to deliver groceries to Australian? No, it's not doing that either. Let's be very clear on what this bill does and what this bill doesn't. It is a bill that simply removes the safeguards, all safeguards, on an industrial relations process—which is currently under review, I might add—and that has barely been used by the transport industry. This is urgent legislation!

The priorities of Labor in a crisis are clear for all to see. This is Labor. An industrial relations process that has not been used is urgent, but cutting the fuel excise isn't. Cutting the road user charge is not urgent. Getting the supply to the petrol bowsers is not urgent, but changing an industrial relations law that hasn't yet been used and that is currently under review is urgent. This meagre and this politicised offering for the transport sector is so urgent that it is only one item in a long list of assistance that has been called for, but it's simply not enough. It doesn't cut a tax that pushes up prices, it doesn't shift a single litre of fuel to a bowser that's run dry, it doesn't get fuel to farmers, it doesn't get fuel to manufacturers, it doesn't get fuel to fishers, it doesn't get fuel to manufacturers or to transport, and it doesn't help to keep the price of your groceries down by reducing pressure in the supply chain. It's entirely political, it's entirely pathetic, and it is what all Australians have come to expect from this Labor government.

As meagre as it is, it also speaks to the mindset of Labor, because it has entirely circumvented scrutiny. In bringing this bill on, Labor have trashed parliamentary scrutiny of a very complex industrial relations system, with the likely outcome being unintended consequences—of that there is no doubt. The bill was introduced to the parliament last Thursday. Minutes after the legislation was introduced, the government forced a vote on it in the House of Representatives, before members had even seen the bill. They hadn't even read it and they were forced to vote on it.