Mr BEAZLEY —Australian people do not agree with you, Prime Minister.

Mr SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition will come to his question.

Mr BEAZLEY —My question is to the Treasurer. Does the Treasurer stand by his claim that the price of gas will rise by just 3.3 per cent after taking into account the removal of wholesale sales tax and state based taxes? Won't the fact that most state taxes will now be retained forever increase the GST impact on gas tax prices? Wasn't ACCC member and independent pricing and access regulator Mr Graham Scott right when he predicted yesterday that gas prices will now increase by eight to nine per cent?

Mr COSTELLO (Treasurer) —I think the Leader of the Opposition made some kind of comment in his question that state taxes will stay forever. State taxes won't stay forever. It is Labor policy to keep state taxes forever.

Opposition members —Oh!

Mr COSTELLO —Yes. It is Labor policy to keep state taxes forever. Just so you know, it is Labor policy to keep stamp duty on shares. It is Labor policy to keep FID. It is Labor policy to keep BAD. It is Labor policy to keep bed taxes. This side of the parliament is in favour of abolishing state taxes. We are going to abolish bed taxes. We are going to abolish stamp duty on shares.

Mr SPEAKER —The Treasurer will resume his seat. I call the Leader of the Opposition.

Mr Beazley —Is it correct for Mr Scott to say that the price of gas will rise eight to nine per cent unlike your prediction of 3.3 per cent?

Mr SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. I call the Treasurer.

Mr COSTELLO —Mr Speaker, as he said in his question that state taxes will stay forever, he was completely false. He was misrepresenting government policy and he was describing his own because we are going to abolish stamp duties on shares. We are going to abolish Labor's bed taxes. We are going to abolish financial institutions duty, and we are going to abolish bank account debits taxes. Those taxes come off. The second point that I make is as follows: we are going to abolish Labor's wholesale sales tax. Listen, Leader of the Opposition, you are engaging in a huge fight to keep wholesale sales tax. That is what you love. No wonder you love it.

Mr Beazley —Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order on relevance. The question was simple. Is the rise in gas prices going to be eight to nine per cent or 3.3? It was a very simple question. It is either a yes or no answer.

Mr SPEAKER —The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition has raised a point of order on relevance. His question did pose the question about tax prices. It also asked a question about the impact on state taxes. In that context the Treasurer is relevant and I call him.

Mr COSTELLO —The point that I am making is that, when we abolish wholesale sales tax, all of the embedded wholesale sales taxes in gas production are abolished. No wonder the Labor Party loves wholesale sales tax. When it introduced wholesale sales tax, it introduced it at a rate of 2½ per cent and it is now at 32 per cent—Labor's secret whole sale sales tax. When you are looking at gas prices, you are taking out all of those indirect taxes, which Labor is committed to. You are taking out all the embedded wholesale sales taxes on practically everything that is required to produce gas. You have an up-front transparent tax at the end of it. Businesses—let me make this point—that are buying gas get a full rebate of GST. They don't even pay any tax on the gas. But they would not get a rebate if you embedded wholesale sales tax, they would not get a rebate of the financial institutions duty, they would not get a rebate in relation to their stamp duties—all of the hidden taxes that the Labor Party loves.