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them over my head. They will stay there while the pressure is on. As soon as the pressure is released they will collapse. That is what has happened with this weak Liberal Government not being prepared to take on the oil industry, not being prepared to force competition in the marketplace. By a combination of pressure, of threats, of cajoling, going to the point, as we said at last year's inquiry, of making it known that we were contemplating flogging the stuff ourselves from an ACT government site, we forced competition into this market and so long as that competitive pressure was there we had prices down.

The Liberals screamed long and loudly. On a number of occasions an oil site closed, and that was usually accompanied by a Bill Stefaniak media event on the driveway. A couple of weeks later those sites reopened, and miraculously Mr Stefaniak was no longer present. The Motor Trades Association put out a newspaper with a forlorn picture of the Red Hill BP station which was “forced to close by the iniquitous actions of Connolly and the Labor Government”. Unfortunately, as a result of some printing slowdowns, by the time that was published BP at Red Hill was happily pumping petrol again because ownership had changed.

Mr Speaker, as I say, we were prepared then to support the idea of a ban on multisite franchising because multisite franchising can operate to remove a competitive dynamic if it is there in the market, and last year there was a competitive dynamic. Anybody who looks at oil pricing in the ACT now would have to agree that that competitive dynamic has disappeared. It has gone. Prices are pretty much uniform across the Territory and they stay that way. Prices have been stable now, for quite some time, in the mid-seventies band. The dynamics that we saw late last year, of weekly fluctuations, which are the hallmark of a competitive market, have gone. Certainly, the numeral “6” which was present on the price boards for most of last year, as pricing fluctuated in that mid- to high-sixties band, has been well and truly thrown away and burnt. It is the “7” that is starting to fade in the sun now; but I am sure, Mr Speaker, that the “8” is about, because prices will continue to go up. We see in Canberra now, as we saw traditionally, with the exception of that period last year, all the hallmarks of a non-competitive market. Canberra has returned, essentially, to the country New South Wales pricing structure, with a substantial gap between the local price and the price in Sydney and Melbourne.

This legislation is really a bit of a stunt. It is not going to - - -

Mr Humphries: That is total garbage.

MR CONNOLLY: Mr Humphries, nobody believes you on this. People know what they are paying at the pump. Competition has gone from the marketplace and prices have risen. Banning multisite franchising does little to protect the consumer and does little to protect competition because there is no competition to protect. Nonetheless, there is a sound argument for supporting legislation which prevents a further market monopolisation and we are prepared to do that in principle.

I must say, though, that I am concerned about the potential impact of some of the amendments. We have no difficulty with retrospective legislation in principle, although I recall Mr Humphries waxing lyrical last year in saying that one should never have retrospective legislation.

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