Senator HUTCHINS (5:28 PM) —You would think by the way a number of the coalition MPs are crowing this afternoon—in particular those who have stood up and had a say—that they had had some personal marvellous victory. I have been combing through the press clippings over the last few months and have been looking at the list of coalition MPs who have been prepared to get up-front and have a go at their Prime Minister. I cannot say that I ever saw Senator Chapman's name there. I cannot say that I saw Senator Tierney's name there. I might say that the only senator who has had enough guts to have a go at his Prime Minister, and is public about it, is Senator Winston Crane. He is the only coalition senator I can find in the press clippings. I am sure that, if I am mistaken, some hero or heroine will get up here and point out my error. Senator Winston Crane is the only one.

Petrol pricing has been an issue for the coalition since June last year. This is obviously a matter that has been well and truly discussed in the coalition party room. I know at least a dozen coalition MPs who are obviously good local members reflecting the angst in their areas and who have got up and had a go at their Prime Minister.

Senator HUTCHINS —But people like Senator Tierney are real heroes in here. They have those home and away games. Some of them are very brave coalition MPs in their electorates; they are climbing into their government when they are in their electorates. But when they get down here in the party room, what do you hear?

Senator Tierney —You don't know what happens in our party room.

Senator HUTCHINS —You hear deafening silence. That is all you hear from Senator Tierney now. You are going to get up and have a go. Good on you! We have never heard a word from you. All the people in the Newcastle region, up in the Hunter where you shadow, have not heard a word from you.

Senator Tierney —Yes, they have.

Senator HUTCHINS —No, they have not. You have hardly had any impact at all.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Sherry)—Senator Hutchins, please, sit down. Senator Tierney, will you please be quiet. You have been consistently interjecting since Senator Hutchins started speaking. We have already had one person go today, so you will please stop interjecting.

Senator Tierney —Mr Acting Deputy President, I raise a point of order. The interjections are because I am being provoked by the speaker. Perhaps you could give some guidance to the speaker to stop provoking those opposite and you might not get so many interjections.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT —That is not a point of order, and as you well know from earlier today it is not a defence either. You are listed to speak shortly; please reserve your comment for then.

Senator HUTCHINS —At this point I should probably remind the Senate of the welcome that the President of the Sydney University Liberal Club handed out during orientation week. I suppose the example we have just seen of Senator Tierney and a number of the other coalition senators jumping up is obviously what Mr Kyle Kutasi was talking about. I will quote it again, because there is a bit I did not add yesterday. Mr Kyle Kutasi said:

Well, I do not agree with Mr Kutasi about that—

I will come back to the critique of coalition MPs from Mr Kutasi of the Sydney University Liberal Club shortly because he does talk about crocodile farmers and hypnotists. I do not know where you would fit in there, Senator Tierney, but I am sure that when you get up to speak you will make sure that we are—

Senator Jacinta Collins —Illuminated?

Senator HUTCHINS —Yes, illuminated. At the last election the Prime Minister made one of those quotes that he likes. He said, `The price of petrol would not rise as a result of the introduction of the GST.' That was obviously a lie, and that has been proven time and time again since that election was held. The price of fuel is now going to be reduced by 1.5c a litre. On the Central Coast of New South Wales, in the electorate of Robertson, currently held by Mr Jim Lloyd, under the government's proposal if you fill up at one of the Woy Woy service stations you will pay a total of $56.64, or 94.4c a litre. The price of petrol will go down from 95.9c a litre to 94.4c a litre. Of that, the tax would be reduced by 1½c. So, today or tomorrow—whenever this proposal will operate from—if you were to fill up a normal family sedan that holds 60 litres, you would pay $56.64. The break-up of that right now, if not tomorrow when it comes in, will be $28.50 to the fuel company, the service station owner and all those costs, but $28.14 will still come back to the federal government. That means the reduction from what you would have paid yesterday to what you will pay today is 90c. That is all one family will save from yesterday's price when they fill up their sedan today or tomorrow. So today it costs $57.54 to fill up the family sedan; tomorrow it will cost $56.64—that is a 90c reduction. I do not think you can even buy a Mars Bar with 90c anymore. However, the coalition MPs are out there, singing the praises of this marvellous deal.

I do not see how that is going to have any impact at all on people's disposable income. If you fill up your car twice a week, as people in the outer suburbs of Sydney have to do each week, you will be saving $1.80. That is all you would be saving. I do not know how the government can claim that this is a marvellous deal for motorists, because it is not. They are paying too much money now for fuel. In our legislation we are attempting to make sure that that is handled.

Even the Minister for Trade, Mr Mark Vaile, who holds the seat of Lyne, at some point last year when pressed on the difference between city and country petrol prices said that it was unacceptable. But what has happened? As Senator West said earlier, the price of fuel in Bathurst is much more expensive than the price of fuel here in Canberra. The price of fuel in Sydney today is 97.9c per litre. Yet at Port Macquarie, it is $1.09; in Taree, 99.9c; and in Wauchope, 99.9c. A lot of people in this region are retirees and are very restricted by the amount of money they have. I have a letter addressed to me from the Manning Valley Branch of the Combined Pensioners and Superannuants Association. They talked about the impact of the GST on petrol and how it is affecting them. Mr or Ms J said:

This is not something I ask people to write to me about; this is something these people are motivated about because they are suffering as a result of the government's petrol pricing policy. They say that they cannot get their families to drive up to their regions to see them and their own ability to move around is restricted—and all because of this mean-spirited government.

Senator Tierney —You were pretty mean spirited when you were in government.

Senator HUTCHINS —When I spoke earlier about a number of the Liberal Party people, I mentioned the crocodile farmers and the hypnotists you would come across if you joined the Sydney University Liberal Club. But, in relation to the promise by the Prime Minister, John Howard, I do not think he is going to get away with being a hypnotist this time. I do not think this 90c that you save when you fill up a car is going to be enough to make sure that the government gets through the next election. I do not even think those courageous coalition MPs who for some time have publicly been berating the Prime Minister to ensure that he would do something about the price of fuel will be saved at the next election. The people are not going to be fooled. If you believe that they are going to be so happy or relieved by this mean-spirited government and its mean little effort to reduce the price of fuel, I am afraid you are going to be sadly lacking. But it would not mean too much, particularly for a number of the Liberals we see in this place who are restricted to the environs of the Eastern Suburbs of Sydney or the lower North Shore.

Senator Tierney —Not me.

Senator HUTCHINS —You are an exception, Senator Tierney, but you are not as courageous.

Senator Ludwig —Mr Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. I wish to raise the matter of Senator Tierney continually interjecting. Since you warned him the last time, he has interjected on no less than four occasions, and I would like to bring that to your attention.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT (Senator Sherry)—I do uphold the point of order. Senator Tierney, I mentioned this to you on a previous occasion, and I would draw your attention to the fact that you will be speaking shortly.

Senator HUTCHINS —As I said, a number of the Liberals in this place, particularly in the Senate—with the exception of silent Senator Tierney—would not feel the impact of these fuel prices. A number of them think that Sydney stops at Strathfield. That is as far as a lot of them ever get. When they are filling up their Audi or their BMW or their Volvo, it does not matter if they save 90c—they probably spill more than that in champagne. But in relation to the people on the Central Coast of New South Wales in the electorate of Lyne and, in particular, in the electorate of Lindsay where Miss Jackie Kelly is the member, it does have a real impact. I repeat: if you fill up your car at Woy Woy today, the government is reducing the price of filling up that tank by 90c. That is all people are going to save—90c. Some big windfall—I think not!

No matter what sort of selling the government is going to do over the next few days on how this is some sort of marvellous victory for commonsense, I do not think the people are going to buy it. This has been an issue in the government's camp for well over 12 months and people have been complaining about it for some time, and it is only now that the Prime Minister has acted. It is too late. You can see the writing on the wall. You can see the nervousness there. Senator West already highlighted today the backflips that are under way in relation to policy positions: the backflips on BAS, the backflips on trusts, and now the backflips on petrol. When are we going to see the backflips on Telstra?

The government used to try to pride itself on being economic managers—steady people in a crisis. Would you really let John Howard be a captain of a ship if it was in a stormy area? I would not; not after these actions. This Prime Minister does not have the capacity to lead. He has now been forced to take a series of backflips as a result of the continual pressure on the coalition from the elections over the last few weeks. I imagine that what was really on the Prime Minister's mind was the fact that, in the next few weeks, we are going to see a by-election in one of the safest coalition seats in the country. We are going to see a by-election in Ryan. Of course, the pollsters and all the other people on the ground must have been well and truly telling the Prime Minister that there is a serious reaction out there to him and his government's policies. I do not think the coalition is going to get over the fact that they have been seriously wounded as a result of the Queensland and Western Australian elections. When the rot gets in a political party—as we know in the Labor Party—it stays there; there is nothing much you can do. There is not much you can do when the body has been mortally wounded, as has happened to the coalition, particularly the National Party. All you can do for those coalition MPs over the other side is check out their entitlements after they leave parliament, because there will be a healthy swag of Labor MPs here after the next federal election. In the seat of Lindsay, we have—and I have to say this; it rhymes—a lazy Lindsay Liberal in Jackie Kelly. She has the sports portfolio. We have hardly seen anything of her in her electorate. We thought that maybe—

Senator Tierney —Mr Acting Deputy President, I raise a point of order is on relevance. Senator Hutchins has been wandering all over the place in this speech, but now he is wandering through the seat of Lindsay. I ask you, Mr Acting Deputy President, to direct his attention to what the matter of this debate is. Perhaps he could point out to us Labor's record on excise from 1993 to 1996. I think that would be very illuminating.

The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT —Order! There is no point of order. Senator Hutchins is well within the spirit of the conduct of the Senate in his debate so far.

Senator HUTCHINS —I was getting around to Lindsay, Mr Acting Deputy President, because I sat on the Labor Party's petrol price inquiry and we went there and took submissions. A lot of people had not seen Miss Jackie Kelly for a while. They thought she was in Canberra working and the people in Canberra had not seen her here and they thought she was back in Lindsay. So, once again, she is either lazy or she is disappearing or maybe she thinks we are going to get hypnotised out there in that seat of Lindsay.

One of the groups that we had submissions from was what is called the Nepean Food Services. This is community group, a volunteer organisation, that operate on a very tight budget. They rely on volunteers to deliver food to the elderly and the disabled. They are finding that volunteers for their services, all of whom have to pay for their own petrol, are becoming scarce in numbers because they cannot afford to fill up their cars. As a result, there are insufficient drivers to deliver meals, which means that the elderly and the incapacitated are not helped.

That is the result of what has been happening with these fuel price increases. Do you really think that 90c a week is going to be enough to make sure that we get these volunteers back there? These are honourable people; they want to make a contribution to their community; they want to help people who need assistance. Can they? No, the volunteers are drying up because they cannot afford to fill up their petrol tanks. Do you really think that 90c a time when they go to the bowser is going to be enough? I do not think so.

Mr Arthur Galis, who owns a petrol station in Londonderry in the seat of Lindsay, gave us a written submission. He says that he runs one of the few remaining driveway service stations in New South Wales. He reported that high petrol prices are leading to the crippling of his business through increased petrol theft by people who cannot afford to pay. Mr Galis has said that in those areas, particularly the outer suburbs of the major cities, where you have to have a car to get around because public transport is not available and you have to travel because you cannot work in your own municipality, there is increased petrol theft. People are driving into the service station, filling up their car, and driving off. That is what is happening. That is the result of the increased fuel price.

If you filled up your tank tomorrow in Woy Woy, it would cost you $56.64. If you filled it up the day before, without that 90c saving, you paid $57.54. So 90c has been saved and, of that price, $28.50 goes to the petrol company and the service station, but now $28.14 still goes to the federal government. No wonder people are starting to make themselves unavailable to go and fill up their tanks so they can help out in places like the Nepean Food Services. No wonder they are ripping off poor service station owners like Mr Galis because they cannot afford to pay for the cost of fuel when they go and fill their cars up as they need to.

We know that this government is in terminal decay now. The backflips that have occurred over the last few weeks are signs of that. Any reading of history will tell you that, once the governing party or the authority in power start to make these sorts of backflips and to turn around and to give the appearance of panic, they are in decline and will be booted out. I am pretty sure those coalition MPs would be going up to the office in Parliament House checking on their entitlements. I hope they get looked after when they lose their seats next time, as undoubtedly a lot of them will.

Senator Tierney —You wish.

Senator HUTCHINS —Someone like Senator Tierney is all right. He has another three years to go. I imagine they will still try to put someone in the Hunter region when he goes, when he retires or gets punted, whatever happens. I will tell you: he has not been all that successful so far. We have got most of the Hunter seats.

Senator HUTCHINS —We will probably pick up a few more up the coast. We are very lucky that we have good candidates for our party up the North Coast of New South Wales. They will be an asset to this parliament when they join us.