Mr HOCKEY (Financial Services and Regulation) (9:31 AM) —I would like to thank the members of the House who have spoken in this debate on the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme (Administration and Compliance) Bill 1999 including the members for Hotham, Mitchell, Batman, New England, Paterson, Cook, Calare, Dawson and Rankin. With respect to the issues raised I make the following comment that, predictably, the opposition members have a number of misconceptions concerning the scheme. The member for Paterson queried the need for the commission er to take samples. He said that diesel fuel in Sydney is the same as diesel fuel in the bush. He failed to appreciate that this bill deals with not only diesel fuel but also alternative types of fuel which attract a different level of grant. Therefore, there may be a need to take samples, particularly when fuel blends are used.

The opposition has ignored the fact that key determinations made by the Commissioner of Taxation, such as the definition of a journey, will be a disallowable instrument and therefore subject to the scrutiny of parliament. Similarly, the definition of metropolitan areas will be defined by regulation—again subject to the scrutiny of parliament. With respect to the uncertainty and record keeping requirements, the government is not going to impose logbooks or particular record keeping systems where existing records can substantiate a claim. The record keeping requirements for most claimants will be no more than fuel receipts and eligible kilometres travelled. We acknowledge that small truck operators working across metropolitan country areas will have to maintain more detailed records to access the grant. The grant will more than compensate these operators for the effort required. The honourable member for Calare said that the AT0 will specify where a metropolitan area will start and finish. I reiterate that this will be defined by regulation.

To sum up, the bill contains the necessary administrative arrangements including the compliance mechanisms to operate the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme. The bill ensures that the Commissioner of Taxation has adequate powers to administer the grants scheme and introduces rigorous enforcement measures to protect public funds and prevent abuse of the scheme. Claimants will be able to register for the grants scheme from 1 March 2000 and develop record keeping arrangements for the introduction of the grants scheme from 1 July 2000. Overall, the Diesel and Alternative Fuels Grants Scheme will reduce the cost of our major transport fuel and, in turn, reduce consumer prices, especially in regional, rural and remote areas.

Finally, I make this point: the Labor Party dealt itself out of this debate because it dealt itself out of the debate on the new tax package. It dealt itself out of the debate on the GST. This grants scheme is directly linked to the introduction of a GST that starts on 1 July next year and brings substantial personal income tax cuts, abolishes FID, abolishes debits, abolishes stamp duty on the transfer of shares and, most importantly, abolishes wholesale sales taxes. That is good for Australia; that is great for Australian consumers and Australian businesses.

When the Labor Party come in here in their own unctuous way and want to play kitty-cat games on a bill such as this, I can only suggest to them that, if they want to be the real opposition party, the real coercive force in this parliament, they need to deal themselves into the business tax debate. I say to them: don't muck around with not having a position, which is the traditional, weak Labor approach to date. Don't deal yourselves out of the debate by simply opposing everything that we do—you opposed the GST, personal income tax cuts, the abolition of wholesale sales tax, industrial relations reform, the sale of Telstra, corporate law reform, every single initiative that tries to repair the black hole that the Leader of the Opposition left us when we came to government in 1996—and remind yourselves that Australia has the most successful developed economy in the world at the moment, with seven out of our top 10 trading partners in recession or depression. Our success has had nothing to do with the Labor Party because the Labor Party have this phobia about supporting anything that is good for Australia. I commend the bill to the House.

Question put:

That the words proposed to be omitted (Mr Crean's amendment) stand part of the question.