Mr BARRETT - 2016-02-11
Can you outline what the government is doing to help ensure Territorians are paying a fair price for fuel? It is a question about something that is important to Territorians.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is only members on this side of the Chamber who care about Territorians and asks questions about the Territory. Labor members are too busy worrying about personal attacks.
The member for Blain would know that in 11-and-a-half years of Labor we heard promises about petrol prices but nothing was delivered. I have a couple of flyers here of former members of the Labor Party talking about how they would campaign on petrol price action.
Here is an old flyer from the former member for Nightcliff who happened to be the Speaker for a long period of time, Ms Jane Aagaard, talking about petrol price petitions and taking action on petrol prices. Here is another one from Matthew Bronson talking about another petrol price petition, doing all he could to talk about trying to reduce petrol prices. The Minister for Business has a lovely flyer of the member for Karama talking about what she would do about petrol prices.
Here is an illustration of the gap between the Australian average fuel price versus the Northern Territory from 2009 to 2015. Many will see that in about 2010 the jaws on the crocodile started opening up and the gap between the Australian price and the Northern Territory price of unleaded fuel got higher and higher.
That is why we have been doing a lot of work to provide downward pressure on fuel prices in the Northern Territory. We did not just put flyers out or run pretend petitions; we took action on the fuel price in 2014.
Here is the timing of the fuel summit in 2004. You can see where we were at that point after the summit where the prices came together. What we saw in 2014 …
Ms Fyles: You were not even in the Territory then.
Mr GILES: Can you please be quiet. It is becoming too relentless, member for Nightcliff.
Since the fuel price summit, every time we take action as a government the fuel price comes down. There might be pressure from media, me or politicians on this side of the Chamber, and the prices will come down.
Every time we stop talking about it, making phone calls, writing letters, or whatever that pressure point may be, whether it is an investigation or the tabling of a bill, the price gap seems to widen. That is why we made the decision to introduce the Fuel Price Disclosure Bill to parliament.
It is good to see the price of fuel at Daly Street is now 116.7c. More needs to be done. We are committed to passing this bill to make sure there is more transparency and accountability on fuel companies to keep the price of fuel in the Northern Territory at the lowest point.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
ANSWER
Madam Speaker, it is only members on this side of the Chamber who care about Territorians and asks questions about the Territory. Labor members are too busy worrying about personal attacks.
The member for Blain would know that in 11-and-a-half years of Labor we heard promises about petrol prices but nothing was delivered. I have a couple of flyers here of former members of the Labor Party talking about how they would campaign on petrol price action.
Here is an old flyer from the former member for Nightcliff who happened to be the Speaker for a long period of time, Ms Jane Aagaard, talking about petrol price petitions and taking action on petrol prices. Here is another one from Matthew Bronson talking about another petrol price petition, doing all he could to talk about trying to reduce petrol prices. The Minister for Business has a lovely flyer of the member for Karama talking about what she would do about petrol prices.
Here is an illustration of the gap between the Australian average fuel price versus the Northern Territory from 2009 to 2015. Many will see that in about 2010 the jaws on the crocodile started opening up and the gap between the Australian price and the Northern Territory price of unleaded fuel got higher and higher.
That is why we have been doing a lot of work to provide downward pressure on fuel prices in the Northern Territory. We did not just put flyers out or run pretend petitions; we took action on the fuel price in 2014.
Here is the timing of the fuel summit in 2004. You can see where we were at that point after the summit where the prices came together. What we saw in 2014 …
Ms Fyles: You were not even in the Territory then.
Mr GILES: Can you please be quiet. It is becoming too relentless, member for Nightcliff.
Since the fuel price summit, every time we take action as a government the fuel price comes down. There might be pressure from media, me or politicians on this side of the Chamber, and the prices will come down.
Every time we stop talking about it, making phone calls, writing letters, or whatever that pressure point may be, whether it is an investigation or the tabling of a bill, the price gap seems to widen. That is why we made the decision to introduce the Fuel Price Disclosure Bill to parliament.
It is good to see the price of fuel at Daly Street is now 116.7c. More needs to be done. We are committed to passing this bill to make sure there is more transparency and accountability on fuel companies to keep the price of fuel in the Northern Territory at the lowest point.
Madam SPEAKER: Chief Minister, your time has expired.
Last updated: 09 Aug 2016