Mr HOCKEY (Minister for Financial Services and Regulation) (3:45 PM) —I have heard a few of the MPIs from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition over the last few months. Perhaps I have heard more than my fair share of MPIs from the Deputy Leader of the Opposition, but that was the flattest presentation I have heard. Why? Because the Deputy Leader of the Opposition deep down does not believe what he has just told the parliament. Deep down the Deputy Leader of the Opposition recognises that there are factors beyond the control of all of us that are affecting the price of petrol at the pump. If you believed the member for Hotham, you would believe that the Australian GST contributed to higher petrol prices in France, Britain and the United States and that, in fact, the presidential candidates in the United States are arguing about the Australian GST's impact on petrol prices in Chicago, not about the level of supply of oil to American consumers. If you believed the member for Hotham, all ill on earth is associated with the Australian GST. That is the same GST that the Labor Party opposed right up to midnight on 30 June and, then, from one minute past midnight on 1 July, the Australian Labor Party supported the GST, because they do not want to abolish it.

It is common knowledge, even in this place, that there is very little a government can do about petrol prices when the price of oil is spiralling, and that is what it has done. The price of oil has increased significantly. In fact, it has trebled over the last few months and certainly since the beginning of last year. At the same time that the price of crude oil has trebled, there has been a decrease in the value of the Australian dollar. So you have petrol increasing in price, moving from $US12 a barrel to around $US35 a barrel and, at the same time, the Australian dollar, which is being traded in an open and very liquid market, has decreased in value, meaning that the cost per barrel of crude oil to Australian petroleum manufacturers has more than trebled since 1 January 1998. So that is what it means at the pump.

Since 1 July, Singaporean refined oil, which is the benchmark price for Australian petrol, has increased by 12 per cent in price, which is consistent with Australian retail prices. As the Prime Minister has often said, Shell—if people would like to go to the Shell web site, it is at www.shell.com.au—reports that, from 30 June 2000 until 27 August 2000, the refinery price of petrol increased by 8.3c but retail prices increased by only 6.7c. So the pass on effect, according to Shell, has been less than the true impact of the global increase in petrol prices.

The Labor Party have shown a great tradition in this place. They have always illustrated the capacity to say one thing in government and another thing in opposition. So we have done a little bit of research about what some members of the Labor Party said about petrol prices when they were in government. I think the clanger, the gold medal award, goes to the member for Melbourne. The member for Melbourne said in 1994:

That was the member for Melbourne, now the shadow minister for finance and on the front bench of the Labor Party, who works closely with the member for Hotham. He said, `Stop all this nonsense and bleeding heart rhetoric that it is terrible for some people to pay a few dollars more per week in petrol.' Do not forget that it was the Labor Party that increased the excise on petrol by 5c a litre and 7c a litre outside of the effect of inflation in 1983. Do not forget that it was the Labor Party that introduced the inflationary impact on excise for petrol. Do not forget that it was the Labor Party that promised l-a-w tax cuts and, after the election, said, `We cannot really afford those tax cuts; we are just going to increase the excise on petrol.'

This is the same Labor Party that would have you believe that they have got the great solution, the capital `A' answer in this House, which is that the Labor Party would be so generous if they were in government. They would deliver 2c per litre to every consumer on a one-off basis from early next year. That is the Labor Party's promise. It was only a few weeks ago that the shadow minister for small business, the member for Hunter, came into this place and told the House that the Labor Party wanted to abolish the 1c and 2c a litre fuel subsidy for the bush, which costs $500 million. So, on the one hand, you have the member for Hunter in this House, not a few parliamentary sitting days ago, saying that he wanted to abolish the 1c and 2c per litre subsidy on petrol for people in the bush; and today you have the unctuous member for Hotham coming into this place and saying that, in fact, they did not want to abolish the 1c and 2c—they wanted to give the 1c and 2c a litre to consumers so that their petrol is cheaper.

The left hand does not know what the right hand is saying. The problem is that they are both in the Right. Maybe it is just one of those classic state divisions in the Labor Party where the New South Wales Right is not talking to the Victorian Right. We can speculate on that. The Chief Opposition Whip would know all about the semantics in the right wing. He controls them like puppets—like puppets. There they go, the puppets—away they go. The Chief Opposition Whip knows all about puppeteering. He controls them—the right wing of the Labor Party.

Mr Leo McLeay —Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. My point of order is that poor old Sloppy Joe does not really know where he is up to.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Nehl)—No, no, resume your seat. The minister has the call.

Mr HOCKEY —That was a heart punch! The Chief Opposition Whip, who prides himself on controlling the Labor Party's right wing, has lost control of his own frontbench puppets. The member for Hunter wants to abolish—

Mr Leo McLeay —Mr Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I really think that the minister needs to get back to the matter before the House, which is about the failure of the government to use its fuel tax windfall to give relief to Australian motorists and its failure to keep its promises that the GST would not increase the price of fuel. The minister obviously has nothing to say.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER —I thank the Chief Opposition Whip for his intervention. The minister has the call. The minister is being relevant and will continue to be so.

Mr HOCKEY —The glass jaw of the Chief Opposition Whip is reflecting the fact that the member for Hunter comes into this place and wants to abolish a 1c and 2c per litre subsidy on petrol, and the member for Hotham comes in here promising to introduce a 2c a litre subsidy on petrol. So who is running policy on the frontbench of the Labor Party? Even with the tentacle-like hands of the Chief Opposition Whip, you would have thought that he would have had some semblance of control—

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER —Order! The chair would be quite happy if you could try to tone down your references to hands, tentacles or anything else belonging to the Chief Opposition Whip.

Mr HOCKEY —I am choosing my words very carefully, Mr Deputy Speaker, and I used the word `tentacle'. In this instance, the Chief Opposition Whip should have some semblance of policy control over the frontbench. He should have some semblance of policy control, because he put some of them there and they are meant to be the wisdom and knowledge of the election campaign of the Labor Party at the end of next year. Yet the Chief Opposition Whip, who thinks that the Labor Party has all the policy answers, together with the backbench of the Labor Party, need only have a look at Hansard to get clarification about the fact that the Labor Party does not know where it is going on petrol. The Labor Party does not understand its history on petrol—and, if it does not understand its history on petrol, how will it understand where it wants to go?

The only thing about the Labor Party that is clear is this: the Labor Party have a credibility problem. They have a credibility problem when it comes to petrol. They have a credibility problem when it comes to tax. Their credibility problem stems from the fact that it was the Labor Party that introduced the inflation aspect to excise on petrol. It was the Labor Party that increased the excise on petrol by 5c per litre and 7c per litre on leaded petrol in 1993 when it went to an election promising no tax increases. It was the Labor Party that presided over the most significant taxation increase in petrol in the history of the federation.

On this side of the House, for the first time, we have reduced by $2.2 billion the excise on petrol. We have delivered tax-free diesel to farmers on the farm. We have delivered GST-free petrol to every business in Australia, which now do not have to pay the GST; they simply get the flowthrough benefit of the impact of the GST on petrol.

Australian businesses under the Labor Party would be paying more for their petrol today. Australian farmers under the Labor Party would be paying more for their diesel today. People in the bush who get the benefit of the 1c and 2c per litre fuel rebate scheme would be paying more for their fuel under the Labor Party today. We are abolishing the impact of diesel tax on rail and reducing the impact of taxation on fuel in the bush in rural and regional Australia. It is the Labor Party who opposes that every single step of the way. If there is any sting in the tail for consumers, it is this: we should never, ever forget that the Labor Party opposed $12 billion of taxation cuts for every working person in Australia—$12 billion of income tax cuts, lock, stock and barrel, opposed by the Labor Party. Not only would every consumer have more expensive petrol under the Labor Party; every consumer would have less money to pay for petrol under the Labor Party as well. Not even the Chief Opposition Whip, with his proclivities, can control OPEC.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER —Order! The minister has achieved his objective. He will resume his seat.

Mr Leo McLeay —I think the minister is so good he really needs a quorum.

(Quorum formed)

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER — The minister's time has expired.