Page 4294 - Week 14 - Tuesday, 7 December 1993
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interest in land, but a one-off, short-term licence - to Burmah Oil to enter the market in the ACT. Burmah Oil is a very large oil player internationally; it is part of the Castrol group in Britain. In the past there have been small independents who have set up in this market and they have been brutally squeezed out of this market. They have never been able to survive long term or have an impact on Canberra prices.
Mr Humphries: Will you table this licence, Minister?
MR CONNOLLY: Burmah is large enough to sustain competition. Within one hour of Burmah opening their gates for business, the price of petrol in Canberra was coming down. Market forces, which are something the Liberal Party claim to believe in, had their impact.
Mr Humphries urges me to table the relevant licence. The relevant licence is currently subject to litigation in the Supreme Court and has been partially released to parties in that litigation, subject to quite extensive suppression orders. Given that that licence is subject to that litigation and has been dealt with in a restrictive manner by the court, it is not my intention to release it.
Mr Humphries: Will you release it when it is over?
MR CONNOLLY: When that litigation is over, I see no problem with releasing that licence. The Government took advice from the Australian Valuation Office in setting the terms of this licence. We indicated that, in the ballpark, it is in the order of 2c a litre, which is comparable with what the industry said was what they were paying for rent in Canberra only some months ago when they put some submissions to an ACT Government inquiry.
This Government was prepared to act. This Government was prepared to intervene in the market and force competition on the Canberra market. The market has responded as we always knew it would. You lot opposite now say, "Hear, hear; yes, the oil companies have done the wrong thing". Mr Humphries was the first to use the term "cartel" to describe the oil industry in the ACT. I had never used that word until Mr Humphries used it in this chamber, but at the end of the day you lot would have done nothing. You carped and you criticised when we took the bold action to get Burmah into the market. The market has responded. The people of Canberra are now getting competitive oil prices, and that will stay that way - - -
Mr Kaine: What happened to your macho legislation you were going to wield?
MR CONNOLLY: I think it has worked pretty damn well, Mr Kaine, because out there the price of petrol has dropped about 10c since we embarked on this path. Madam Speaker, let them carp and criticise. Let them carry on like the Liberal Party has always done. This Government has acted in the interests of the public, in the interests of consumers, and in the interests of small business.
I was staggered to see Mr Louttit on television last night urging people not to buy cut-price petrol. I bet I know what all of Mr Louttit's constituents are doing. They will be queued up buying petrol. Back in June a press release issued by an ACT business group said:
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