Ms BIRD (7:40 PM) —As a mother with a teenage learner driver, I certainly commend the member for McPherson on the proposal she is putting forward. As a mother who puts the petrol in the tank of the car driven by my teenage son, I doubt that this will be much of a problem in the near future as so few people will be able to afford the petrol needed for their teenagers to learn to drive! My office has been very busy in the last few weeks. It is not that I am particularly unique—I suspect most members of this House have had a similar experience. All Australians, not least those in my electorate, are very worried about the price of petrol.

I acknowledge that this is a very difficult issue. Its complexity is made more difficult by the many factors involved in the price of oil: the role of the refineries, petrol stations, international markets and price cycles and of course excise and GST. Each of us in this place has been approached by constituents, friends and family to ‘do something’ about increased petrol prices. The impact of increased petrol prices is flowing or will soon flow on to the economic statistics. Already the retail sector is warning of slow sales; the tourism sector is reporting slow accommodation bookings and fall-offs in day-trip visitors.

In Wollongong, with its fantastic beaches and a coastline unparalleled in the nation, I can see a difference between visitor bustles on weekends at Belmore Basin a few weeks ago and the slow drip of visitors now. On WIN TV News this week, as the member for Gilmore would know, the busy Terralong Street in Kiama was virtually empty. A survey released in the last 24 hours has revealed that petrol prices are now more of a worry to Australians than terrorism. The Prime Minister told a press conference last week that it would cost nearly $400 million to reduce the excise on petrol by 1c. Such a reduction would arguably have a minimal impact on petrol pump prices but would place a massive structural imbalance into the budget.

The government can and should implement other options, and I would like to address alternative views in this respect. The government can and should implement Labor’s plan, which would ease the price burden on motorists, but it stubbornly refuses to even consider it. It is obvious that price gouging is under way. Motorists do not need access to documents or emails to confirm price collusion and gouging by major oil companies; they just stand at the petrol pump and know what is going on.

The government can and should strengthen the Trade Practices Act to prevent market power abuse and encourage competition; have the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission investigate petrol prices and every six months report on price movements; modernise the current 25-year-old regulatory regime; promote competition in the petrol sector and protect independent service station operators and franchisees; reduce reliance on imported oil and expand the Australian fuel industry; and provide a real future to the biofuels industry. These are real initiatives that can help reduce the petrol bills for motorists and help the fuel industry.

As I said, everyone knows ‘something funny’ is going on, to use the expression of the ACCC chairman a few days ago. I believe the ACCC is more than willing, given the appropriate powers and direction by the government, to investigate price gouging. Why won’t the government give the ACCC the power it needs to ensure competition in the petrol sector and fair prices for Australian motorists? The longer that any government stays in office, the more complacent it becomes. The government is becoming more and more arrogant and complacent. I find it unbelievable that the government would not at least look for options to help Australian consumers.

In today’s newspapers we have stories of the ‘leader-in-waiting’ report given to the coalition party room by the Treasurer yesterday. It is full of advice to his colleagues about the tough issues and about how the government must stick together. There is another piece revealing how a coalition senator told the party room that he wondered whether his colleagues understood the frustration of opposition and have fooled themselves into thinking they would be in government forever.

I can tell my colleagues on the other side that opposition is no fun. I would certainly prefer to sit on the government side of the chamber as a member of a Labor government and implement the ideas and policies that Labor has. (Time expired)