Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It's fair to say everyone in this building is committed to making sure the current crisis we are facing with respect to fuel is addressed. I find it ironic that those opposite and the crossbench want to blame everyone, such as the government, for their problems. It is worth acknowledging that unlike members across the aisle, who are more interested in stunts—and that's what they did on Friday, rocking up to a fuel station and pretending they had a policy to slash the excise. Something they could have done when they were in government was reform the fuel sector, but instead we went from six refineries to two. Then we've got the Greens going on about the craziness of the war, calling it 'illegal' and 'Trump's war' and wanting to blame the US President, saying that somehow he is at fault, but they fail to acknowledge the Iranian Islamic regime's fault in terms of why we are in the middle of this conflict—it sponsors terrorism around the world, but let's forget about that; let's also blame the government for that problem.

The ongoing conflict in the Middle East is one that the government has taken seriously from day one. We have quietly worked in the background to address the concerns and issues that came before it. We have listened to all people—experts and academics. We have acknowledged the work from those in this place. That's why the government has made the announcement today, talking to premiers, to state leaders, about what federal and state governments can do collectively to address the cost-of-living pressures. That's why, today, the government has announced a temporary halving of the fuel excise for all drivers over the next three months. We've also announced the elimination of the heavy vehicle road user charge for the next three months.

I must say that I took issue with the contribution from Senator McKenzie earlier, around the heavy vehicles and road charges, trying to somehow slander those in the trucking industry. If I recall, for many, many years members of the Transport Workers' Union have been calling on government, particularly the conservative coalition government, to reform the trucking industry. All we got from those opposite was a trucking industry made less safe, less productive and less transparent.

Senator Sheldon will no doubt recall those opposite wanting to shut down the transport remuneration tribunal and successfully doing so. The tribunal would have ensured that the trucking industry in this place were a lot safer, paid trucking folks in the industry the right remuneration and, in doing so, been able to get fuel around the country in a much more efficient manner, supporting the refineries that make our fuel—which we all take for granted. It's worth acknowledging the two refineries that we have left, because, again, we had six, and now we only have two, thanks to the coalition government back then.