Senator HUTCHINS (3:34 PM) —I have to join with my colleagues in taking note of Senator Hill's answer this afternoon, because I think, as Senators Mackay and Murphy said earlier this afternoon, the government is in denial mode. I just want to get back on the record what this excise is. It is a petrol and diesel excise that is indexed twice a year to movements in the consumer price index, and the reason for that is to maintain its real value. There are no other taxes in this country that are indexed. This is the only one, as I understand, that is indexed. If anything is unique in what we are discussing this afternoon it is that, not anything that Senator McGauran has put to us. These excises are deliberately indexed, as I said, to maintain their real value.

Why are they indexed? As Senator Murphy pointed out, in the next financial year this tax will raise $13 billion for the government, and they may have already allocated how they are going to spend that money. The next time this tax is to be indexed is in February of next year. Along with a number of businesses, communities, trade unions and organisations throughout the country, we have called upon the Prime Minister to not persist with this indexation. The government do not have to index this, but the government have decided, no doubt, that they are going to spend this $13 billion. In the next financial year the GST will raise $24 billion, which they have no doubt allocated for spending. Think about it: $13 billion with $24 billion: that is a lot of revenue that the government are going to collect from some indirect taxation. That is why it is not going to be reduced; because they are not going to keep their word on it.

I am very interested to have seen a number of the coalition members of parliament parading over the last few weeks about the cost of the diesel and the petrol excise. They have been playing classic home and away games. A number of them have been getting themselves in their local or metropolitan papers saying, `We're going to raise this with the Prime Minister. We're going to raise this within the party room.' And what have they done?

We have Senator Winston Crane, who was almost the first cab off the rank. We have Senator Lightfoot, who continues to be a critic of the government. We have: Mr Ross Cameron, who holds the marginal seat of Parramatta; Mr Peter Nugent; Mrs Draper; Mrs Kay Hull; the Chief Minister of the Northern Territory; Fran Bailey; Tony Lawler; Neil Andrew. All these people have played these home and away games and beaten themselves up in the metropolitan and local media. But when they have an opportunity to come down here to try to influence their party, which is in government, what do they do? They cower in some corner—they cower and cringe—and they get up here and try to defend the indefensible. We are not prepared to allow them to get away with it. I can assure you that, particularly in those marginal seats in New South Wales where I come from, we will be highlighting this hypocrisy and cowardice that a number of these government members have been displaying.

To finish on this matter, I repeat: petrol and diesel excise is indexed twice a year to movements in the consumer price index in order to maintain its real value. No other tax is managed like that in this country. So I believe, as we will see exposed over next few months, the government's inflation strategy will be in tatters. Then we will see how courageous these home and away players are.

Question resolved in the affirmative.