(1)   Can he confirm that motorists pay almost 50 cents tax on every litre of petrol.

(2)   Will he remove the GST from petrol; if not, why not.

(1)   and (2) Petrol includes an excise (or customs duty when imported) component. The excise has been fixed since March 2001 when the Government discontinued fuel excise indexation. The goods and services tax (GST) also applies to petrol. The States and Territories receive all GST revenue. Removing the GST from petrol would be a change to the GST base, and would therefore require unanimous State and Territory approval. No request has been received from any State or Territory to remove the GST from petrol. One State - Queensland - uses part of its revenues to subsidise the cost of fuel by about 8.4 cents per litre. All other States and Territories have the opportunity to follow Queensland and reduce the cost of fuel for consumers.