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Thursday, 27 October 1949

Mr DEDMAN (Corio) (Minister for Defence and Minister for Post-war Reconstruction) . - The honorable member for Wentworth (Mr. Harrison) has moved an amendment to sub-clause (2.), and the Leader of the Australian Country party (Mr. Fadden) has supported him. The honorable member for Wentworth advanced two reasons for his amendment, and they were antagonistic to each other. He said that since I had painted such a black picture of the prospects of getting petrol, the Government could not possibly foresee how rationing could be abolished by the end of August next year. Then he switched from that argument to a totally different one, and maintained that rationing should be abolished in January next. That shows how confused the honorable member is. Then the honorable member threw out some kind of a challenge, although I do not know just what it was about. He knows that the Government cannot itself import petrol. It is true that the Commonwealth could bring the tankers along-side the wharfs, but it has no storage facilities. The storage tanks belong to private enterprise. There is a grave doubt whether the Government could, in fact, import petrol. That has always been done by private enterprise, and if the Government proposed to do it, honorable members opposite would condemn us for socializing the industry.

Mr Rankin - Why not tell the truth?

Mr Fadden - He could not tell the truth by accident.

Mr DEDMAN - I ask that that statement be withdrawn.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.The Minister has objected to a statement by the Leader of the Australian Country party (Mr. Fadden). Therefore, I ask that it be withdrawn.

Mr Fadden - I withdraw the statement, because it would be an accident.

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN - The right honorable gentleman must withdraw the statement unconditionally.

Mr Fadden - I do so.

Mr DEDMAN - The Leader of the Australian Country party seems to think that the Government should do something about the offer of Ampol to share with other companies the petrol that it proposes to import from France. What could the Government do about it? As I have said, the Commonwealth has no storage tanks. Of course, there is a reason why Ampol has made this offer to the other oil companies, and to the Government which, unfortunately, cannot take it up. The reason is that the petrol will cost Ampol 2d. a gallon more to import than the price for which it will be able to sell the petrol. That price, by the way, has been fixed not by the Commonwealth, but by the State governments acting in concert.

Mr Fadden - I must put the Minister right again. The amount is 3d., not 2d.

Mr DEDMAN - That is immaterial. I do not think that the company is very generous in offering to share this quantity of 18,500,000 gallons.

Mr Harrison - Of course, it has nothing to do with the people !

The TEMPORARY CHAIRMAN.This is not a " free for all ". The Chair will take immediate action if there is further interruption.

Mr DEDMAN - The company has made the offer because it is faced with a loss, and it wants the other big com panies to share the loss. The Leader of the Australian Country party said that the importation of 18,500,000 gallons of petrol would make petrol rationing unnecessary in Australia. That is not true. It would be necessary to import an additional 90,000,000 or 100,000,000 gallons to make petrol rationing unnecessary. The right honorable gentleman suggested that the Government had not encouraged those who sought to import petrol from non-dollar areas. The Government has given every encouragement to them, subject always to the condition that the petrol will not cost dollars. It is only because the petrol that Ampol proposes to import from France will probably cost dollars, that the Government is a bit indifferent to the transaction. If it is found that no dollars are involved, the Government will give the company every encouragement.

The amendment of the honorable member for Wentworth is childish. What government would bring in legislation to operate for a period of two months only ? If petrol rationing is necessary, it will certainly be necessary for more than two months. The date at which the legislation will cease to operate has been fixed as the 31st August of next year because it is based upon complementary State legislation that also expires on that date.

Question put -

Harrison's amendment) toe left out.

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