Mr NAIRN (8:22 PM) —I rise to support this Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme Amendment Bill 2000 because at its introduction on 1 July this year the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme will provide a great boost to primary producers, businesses and emergency services in Australia, particularly in rural and regional areas such as my electorate of Eden-Monaro. The bill further enhances the qualities of this scheme by three things: firstly, it extends the fuel grant to primary production businesses and their contractors located within metropolitan areas. I know there are many areas on the fringes of metropolitan areas—within metropolitan areas but still carrying on primary production—that will be very pleased to see that particular aspect of this bill.Secondly, it extends the fuel grant to buses operating in metropolitan areas and using alternative fuels. Thirdly, and one thing that I think is just a terrific aspect of this bill, it removes an anomaly that would have excluded emergency services vehicles from accessing the grant. That will go down superbly well right throughout my electorate, where we have volunteer bushfire brigades and those sorts of things in the mountains and along the coast. They do a terrific job, and to be able to get this sort of reduction in their fuel costs means there will be a lot fewer chook raffles and other things that these groups have to do to raise funds. One aspect that I have been making representations on, and will be making more, to the minister responsible is in relation to emergency vessels. In the coastal part of my electorate we have the Royal Volunteer Coastal Patrol at Batemans Bay, Narooma, Merimbula, Eden, et cetera, and I think that those sorts of vessels, run by volunteers, should also have access to the scheme, so I will be making some further representations on that.

This scheme is a vital part of the federal government's commitment to cut fuel costs, especially for rural and regional Australia. I wonder what sort of speech the member for the Northern Territory would have made if his road transport operators were not getting a rebate of something like 24c a litre. I found the whinge that he seemed to have just fascinating. It would be substantially worse if this sort of scheme were not there. Although fuel prices have gone up substantially in the last year—and that is unavoidable because of the nature of the market globally—this rebate will be of huge assistance to those operators right throughout the rural and regional areas and the remote areas that he talked about. So I could not see why he would complain about the big reduction that they are going to get. Only last week the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Warren Truss, and I met with primary producers in homes around the Monaro. One of the issues raised in our discussions was the recent rises in fuel prices and the disparity in prices between metropolitan and rural Australia. This scheme and the new tax system will push transport costs in the opposite direction, and these benefits will also flow through to consumers and exporters. For me, having a rural electorate and relying very much on exports in many parts, that is a very pertinent point.

In determining those eligible for the scheme the government drew up boundaries separating regional and metropolitan Australia. The capital cities and other large urban centres are deemed metropolitan and 99 per cent of the Australian landmass is deemed regional. Eden-Monaro in its entirety is considered a regional area; therefore, all trips originating in Eden-Monaro by primary producers' transport vehicles over 4.5 tonnes and trips by emergency services vehicles over 4.5 tonnes are eligible for the grant. I was at a budget breakfast in Canberra the day after the budget was brought down—it was not long before that that these maps as to what was metropolitan and what was regional came out. The Australian Capital Territory Labor opposition leader, Jon Stanhope, was at that breakfast and spoke. The thing that he complained about was the fact that the transport people in Canberra were not going to be able to get access to this particular rebate. He said that this was a dreadful thing from the federal government. I just could not believe that he would stand up and say such a thing when the people from his own party voted in the Senate not to allow this diesel rebate right across the board. That is what we wanted in our original policy. It was the compromise that we had to make for the Democrats that took it out of these urban areas. His party had the opportunity to join with the coalition government and have that rebate for everybody and there he was, standing up complaining about it and saying, `You've got it over in Queanbeyan but we don't have it here in Canberra.' He said this was dreadful from the federal government. He obviously had absolutely no idea of the history of it, which is quite amazing.

This bill is dependent on being passed by both houses. Under the scheme at present an anomaly exists that excludes emergency services vehicles over 4.5 tonnes from accessing the grant. With the dry grasslands, coastal rainforest and rugged Snowy Mountains in Eden-Monaro, residents of the electorate greatly value our SES and fire services. They are called upon to provide the most vital of services at all times throughout the year—that being, saving lives, homes and livelihoods. Because of the vast size of the Snowy Mountains and surrounds, these emergency vehicles need to travel substantial distances. This bill allows for funds currently used on fuel to be saved and redirected to other areas where they are needed more.

Upon ratification of this bill, I look forward to spreading this good news to my State Emergency Service workers throughout Eden-Monaro. The Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme will provide my local operators with a grant of around 16c or 17c a litre. This is on top of the GST input tax credit of around 7c or 8c a litre. This represents a total reduction of around 23c or 24c a litre in the cost of using diesel—quite a significant saving. When these benefits are combined with the grants of around 36c a litre for rail transport, the reduced costs of bulk freighting items such as livestock and grain will be substantial. For the grains industry, for example, it will be more than $20 million a year. I know it will provide a great relief to my primary producers.

It is estimated that approximately 210,000 businesses will be eligible for this scheme. This represents more than 300,000 vehicles. The Department of Transport and Regional Services estimate that 81 per cent of fuel used in vehicles over 4.5 tonnes will be eligible for a grant. This scheme has been praised throughout Eden-Monaro and supported by many sectors of the rural and regional community. Geoff Rudd, part-owner and director of Queanbeyan's G.V. Rudd Transport, a regional and long-distance carrier, and other transporters in my area have indicated to me their support for this initiative. They say that with fuel prices having risen in the last year this will be a welcome relief.

The President of the New South Wales Farmers Association, John Cobb, said they were delighted the government had listened to the concerns of farmers and had found a way to deliver one of the significant elements of the new tax system for rural and regional Australia. The President of the National Farmers Federation, Ian Donges, said:

The Australian Trucking Association said, `This is a win-win situation for the industry and Australia.' Along with so many others, I welcome the support this scheme will provide for Eden-Monaro's primary producers, businesses and, very importantly, emergency services. I therefore urge all members to support this bill.