Ms MARTIN - 2001-05-31
My question is a serious question. Chief Minister, Territorians all know that you and the CLP are the GST’s biggest fans. You have continuously defended John Howard’s petrol prices and petrol policies. It is a fact that GST has meant that Territorians pay the highest taxes on fuel of any Australians, and in some parts of the Territory nearly double the amount of GST per litre on fuel than the residents of Brisbane and Sydney. Your do-nothing approach has failed Territory motorists with nothing in the federal or Territory budgets to ease the pain. Tell us, Chief Minister: when will you put the Territory first and do something about petrol prices?
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the sort of campaign that the Leader of the Opposition is running on petrol is absolutely fraudulent. It is a seductive way to try and paint a picture to the uninformed that, first, they are being ripped off by petrol retailers and second, that she, in government, could do something about it. I make the simple observation that the President of the United States is grappling with something like 40 in the gallon fuel rises over the last three months and the President of the United States can’t do anything about it but little old Clarabelle over here reckons she will do it in a heartbeat. She makes these ...
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I really object to having myself referred to as Clarabelle by the Chief Minister. I think this House can do better than that.
Mr SPEAKER: The Chief Minister is aware that he must refer to the Leader of the Opposition by her title.
Mr BURKE: It should be Clare Magenta Martin, I tell you, for the amount of colouring she uses in her office.
She makes the observation that retailers in Darwin are ripping off the taxpayer by charging up to 10 or 11 more per litre of fuel. She refers to the fact that the retail subsidy is that amount when she knows full well - and it has been explained to her by both retailers and the petroleum industry - that is not the case. When she quotes retail profit, she does not include the fact that that is also Shell and retail profit so that if you are a franchisee ...
Ms Martin: Yes, I do. Very clearly.
Mr BURKE: You know this. You know this absolutely. If you are a franchisee running a Shell badge service station, your profit margin of 10 or 11 includes the profit that goes to the owner of the franchise. So the actual retailer, the distributor, the average service station owner out there, is getting nowhere near that. She received a letter from one service station, as I did, and I will read you the letter:
Dear Mr Burke -
And I know the Leader of the Opposition received this -
... after receiving a fax from Graeme Bevis of the MTA of the Northern Territory in relation to Clare Martin’s question to yourself about fuel prices in Darwin and in particular the retail margin, she says this: Our current unleaded purchase price including GST is 95.33 per litre. Current selling price is 102.9 per litre. This gives us 7.5 per litre margin. From this we have to meet fixed operating costs, the costs of wages, power, rent and royalty. The royalty back to Shell company is 1.25 per litre. Please be assured that we are not receiving 13.3 per litre as stated on the Shell web site and as stated by her.
So the very least she can do when she talks about high fuel prices in the Northern Territory is tell the truth, that the retail margin being taken by retailers is nowhere near the 10 or 11 that she claims. I also understand that if you look at the costs those service station operators have to meet for that 7 or 8 retail margin profit, they have to bear costs in terms of electricity, wages and superannuation, rent on their premises, and further royalties they might have to pay to the franchise. It is a very dangerous industry. The costs of running those industries include high environmental controls, safety, security and maintenance control.
We should also remember that when the Leader of the Opposition says she is going to do something about it, there have been 32 inquiries ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nhulunbuy is aware that he should contain his attention in the House and not be talking to the gallery.
Mr BURKE: There have been 32 inquiries nationally since 1970. There is a current inquiry on GST-related prices by the Labor party and there is also a federal inquiry into the wholesale and retail chain in the fuel industry. So, first of all there is no point in the Northern Territory government conducting its own separate inquiry when there are two ongoing inquiries on issues which I believe are easily explainable. Now, no one likes the fact that fuel is high but at the very least you could be honest.
Ms Martin: The highest in Australia.
Mr BURKE: Highest in Australia, she just said. This is the other lie this woman runs. If you look at the petrol pricing that I have pulled off the web for the period 1 April 2001 to 30 April 2001 on the monthly high for capital cities Australia-wide, this is it: Sydney metro - $103.9; Melbourne metro - $103.9; Brisbane metro - remember they have an 8 or 9 subsidy on fuel in Queensland which is great for fuel, not much good for roads and that is where they lose the money - but in Brisbane metro, it is an aberration compared with the rest of Australia - 92.9 for that period; Perth metro - $104.9. This is the truth. This is what you should be explaining. Perth metro - $104.9; Adelaide metro - $104.9; Hobart metro - $104.9. Hi-de-hi! Darwin metro - $104.9. Now, that is a monthly high rated across all the capital cities. So to say that we have the highest fuel prices in all of Australia is wrong. There is no doubt that in some of the more remote areas of the Northern Territory it is outrageous but that can be explained by distance, low volumes of fuel through the retailer and the high cost of doing business. When it comes to Darwin, she should be honest.
First, the retailers are making no more profit on fuel than they made 10 years ago. The profit margins on the wholesale distribution level are set nationally. The prices overall benchmark with the rest of Australia. She cannot do anything about it. She will not do anything about it. The only thing she could do about it, if she wanted to, would be to say: ‘I would put a 10 or 8 subsidy per litre on fuel in the Northern Territory’ and she could drop it by 10 straight away. Of course, that will cost her about $7m for every cent out of the budget bottom line. If she proposes that in her election campaign, just tell us how you are going to pay for it.
ANSWER
Mr Speaker, the sort of campaign that the Leader of the Opposition is running on petrol is absolutely fraudulent. It is a seductive way to try and paint a picture to the uninformed that, first, they are being ripped off by petrol retailers and second, that she, in government, could do something about it. I make the simple observation that the President of the United States is grappling with something like 40 in the gallon fuel rises over the last three months and the President of the United States can’t do anything about it but little old Clarabelle over here reckons she will do it in a heartbeat. She makes these ...
Ms MARTIN: A point of order, Mr Speaker! I really object to having myself referred to as Clarabelle by the Chief Minister. I think this House can do better than that.
Mr SPEAKER: The Chief Minister is aware that he must refer to the Leader of the Opposition by her title.
Mr BURKE: It should be Clare Magenta Martin, I tell you, for the amount of colouring she uses in her office.
She makes the observation that retailers in Darwin are ripping off the taxpayer by charging up to 10 or 11 more per litre of fuel. She refers to the fact that the retail subsidy is that amount when she knows full well - and it has been explained to her by both retailers and the petroleum industry - that is not the case. When she quotes retail profit, she does not include the fact that that is also Shell and retail profit so that if you are a franchisee ...
Ms Martin: Yes, I do. Very clearly.
Mr BURKE: You know this. You know this absolutely. If you are a franchisee running a Shell badge service station, your profit margin of 10 or 11 includes the profit that goes to the owner of the franchise. So the actual retailer, the distributor, the average service station owner out there, is getting nowhere near that. She received a letter from one service station, as I did, and I will read you the letter:
Dear Mr Burke -
And I know the Leader of the Opposition received this -
... after receiving a fax from Graeme Bevis of the MTA of the Northern Territory in relation to Clare Martin’s question to yourself about fuel prices in Darwin and in particular the retail margin, she says this: Our current unleaded purchase price including GST is 95.33 per litre. Current selling price is 102.9 per litre. This gives us 7.5 per litre margin. From this we have to meet fixed operating costs, the costs of wages, power, rent and royalty. The royalty back to Shell company is 1.25 per litre. Please be assured that we are not receiving 13.3 per litre as stated on the Shell web site and as stated by her.
So the very least she can do when she talks about high fuel prices in the Northern Territory is tell the truth, that the retail margin being taken by retailers is nowhere near the 10 or 11 that she claims. I also understand that if you look at the costs those service station operators have to meet for that 7 or 8 retail margin profit, they have to bear costs in terms of electricity, wages and superannuation, rent on their premises, and further royalties they might have to pay to the franchise. It is a very dangerous industry. The costs of running those industries include high environmental controls, safety, security and maintenance control.
We should also remember that when the Leader of the Opposition says she is going to do something about it, there have been 32 inquiries ...
Mr SPEAKER: Order! The member for Nhulunbuy is aware that he should contain his attention in the House and not be talking to the gallery.
Mr BURKE: There have been 32 inquiries nationally since 1970. There is a current inquiry on GST-related prices by the Labor party and there is also a federal inquiry into the wholesale and retail chain in the fuel industry. So, first of all there is no point in the Northern Territory government conducting its own separate inquiry when there are two ongoing inquiries on issues which I believe are easily explainable. Now, no one likes the fact that fuel is high but at the very least you could be honest.
Ms Martin: The highest in Australia.
Mr BURKE: Highest in Australia, she just said. This is the other lie this woman runs. If you look at the petrol pricing that I have pulled off the web for the period 1 April 2001 to 30 April 2001 on the monthly high for capital cities Australia-wide, this is it: Sydney metro - $103.9; Melbourne metro - $103.9; Brisbane metro - remember they have an 8 or 9 subsidy on fuel in Queensland which is great for fuel, not much good for roads and that is where they lose the money - but in Brisbane metro, it is an aberration compared with the rest of Australia - 92.9 for that period; Perth metro - $104.9. This is the truth. This is what you should be explaining. Perth metro - $104.9; Adelaide metro - $104.9; Hobart metro - $104.9. Hi-de-hi! Darwin metro - $104.9. Now, that is a monthly high rated across all the capital cities. So to say that we have the highest fuel prices in all of Australia is wrong. There is no doubt that in some of the more remote areas of the Northern Territory it is outrageous but that can be explained by distance, low volumes of fuel through the retailer and the high cost of doing business. When it comes to Darwin, she should be honest.
First, the retailers are making no more profit on fuel than they made 10 years ago. The profit margins on the wholesale distribution level are set nationally. The prices overall benchmark with the rest of Australia. She cannot do anything about it. She will not do anything about it. The only thing she could do about it, if she wanted to, would be to say: ‘I would put a 10 or 8 subsidy per litre on fuel in the Northern Territory’ and she could drop it by 10 straight away. Of course, that will cost her about $7m for every cent out of the budget bottom line. If she proposes that in her election campaign, just tell us how you are going to pay for it.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016