Page 2077 - Week 07 - Thursday, 17 June 1993
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It seems to me that the petrol companies, in particular, have had the opportunity to act responsibly. The Minister introduced the Bill a year ago. He waved it around and made it very clear to the petrol companies that the Bill was available. They have known that it was available; yet they are still proceeding along this way. It seems to me that the concentration of power in the Bill has to be directed at the oil companies rather than at the service stations, and the Bill does provide the Minister with the power to do that.
Mrs Carnell: It does not work.
MR MOORE: For those reasons, I am going to support the Bill. The Liberals say, "It does not work", and we have certainly seen in many places conservative approaches which simply allow monopolies to get further and further on. The power is clearly set out in clause 4, which states that the Minister may determine, by notice in the Gazette, the maximum base wholesale price of fuel and also the maximum retail price of fuel and the maximum retail margin. The Minister has the power to do each of those things, and the most important is the first.
Mr De Domenico: What if I buy my petrol wholesale in New South Wales? What can the Minister do then?
MR MOORE: Mr De Domenico, you would be most welcome; but it was your party, just the other day, that criticised the Minister for suggesting that that was a possibility. If the Bill proves inadequate and we need to provide tighter legislation because of the sort of thing Mr De Domenico is talking about, that is what we will do. I think that what we have is an appropriate approach.
It is very interesting that the Liberals so often are keen to say, "No; free market", until it comes to some issues. Certainly there are planning issues that need to be addressed as well. The Minister has already talked about how they are being addressed, and I presume that he will do so in his reply to this debate. The other issues that were raised by Gary Humphries also have appropriate replies. The reality is that anybody who has driven out of Canberra and looked at what goes on in other places is aware that the discrepancy between the price of petrol here and the price of petrol elsewhere is just too great. We know that there are reasons for that, and we have all read the report; but the discrepancy is too great. We also know that, when somebody is arguing a particular case, you can always put the best light or the best case scenario on it, and I think that comes through in the arguments presented by oil companies and others. Madam Speaker, I shall be supporting this Bill.
MR WESTENDE (5.54): Madam Speaker, I was not going to speak on this matter, but some of the misconceptions and untruths that are being purveyed should be answered. Firstly, the wholesale price is determined by the Prices Surveillance Authority. There is nothing we can do about the wholesale price; it is a national price. The retailers are making less than 5c a litre, even if they mark up to the fullest extent, which, at a price of 70c a litre, equates to about a 2.75 per cent mark-up. For heaven's sake, I have been in business for long enough to know that nobody can live on that sort of profit. For the Minister to say that the service stations are profiteering would be the greatest untruth that has ever been uttered in this place.
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