Senator COOK (Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) (NaN:55:00) —My question is to Senator Kemp, the Assistant Treasurer. What advice can the Assistant Treasurer offer to Bob Bongiorno, the manager of the Balladonia Hotel Motel, who is worried that there are fewer travellers on the Eyre Highway since the introduction of the GST and that fuel costs are killing them? What does he have to say to the roadhouse operators on the Eyre Highway who use diesel to generate electricity to run desalination plants for their water supply, who are having to pay an extra $100 a day on fuel? What explanation can the Assistant Treasurer give to these people as to why the Prime Minister failed to keep his promise that petrol prices would not rise as a result of the GST?

Senator KEMP (Assistant Treasurer) —The advice I would give to him would be twofold. The first point I would give him is that fuel prices under the Labor Party would be higher than they currently are now. The reason for that is that the fuel grants scheme is going to be abolished by the Labor Party, and that helps cuts down the margin between city and country prices. Then I would point to the fact that, under the Labor Party, fuel excise rose from some 5c a litre to some 34c a litre over the 13 years of the Labor Party being in office. That is the first piece of advice I would give to him. The second is that what we have done in relation to tax reform, as we have done over a very wide range of reforms, is to improve the functioning of the Australian economy. Some months are good, and some months are bad in business; that is correct. It may well be, in the particular area this roadhouse is in, that this is a quieter month. But in the long term, and indeed in the medium term, there is no question that the reforms this government has pursued are good for the Australian economy. That is one of the reasons why Australia is one of the high growth economies of the world. Many countries have looked with great envy on the performance of the Australian economy since this government came into office. I would say to him that, although some figures that he might have had in recent months may not have been a help to him, the fundamentals of the Australian economy are very sound.

The final point I would make to him is that the GST, which Senator Cook raised with us, now forms part of Labor Party policy. The Labor Party have stopped talking about the `r' word—roll-back—but if they pursue this policy of roll-back, we will see taxes rising substantially. The income tax cuts, which we provided to the Australian people, will certainly go if by some mischance Labor get back into office. They are a few of the points I would make. I would also ask him to think back to the recession we had to have, during which Senator Cook, who asked that question, was a senior minister. He has never apologised for the appalling performance of the Labor government during their 13 years—particularly during the period of the recession we had to have and for the damage it did to small business.

Senator COOK —Madam President, I ask a supplementary question. Given that the answers you have given, Minister, are an attack upon the Labor Party and are entirely untrue, would I not be justified in telling these constituents of mine that the government refuses to accept any blame at all for the exorbitant price of fuel and proposes to do nothing whatsoever to assist them to cope with its impact? Wouldn't I be right in telling them that?

Senator KEMP (Assistant Treasurer) —Senator Cook, you would be right in telling the head of this roadhouse that the high price of fuel in Australia is due to the high price of fuel on world markets. You would be right in telling him that if Labor got back into office the price of fuel would be even higher, because Labor would load the fuel with taxes.