ID :
10371
Thu, 06/19/2008 - 18:35
Auther :
Shortlink :
http://m.oananews.org//node/10371
The shortlink copeid
Abandon 4WDs in cities, Labor MP says
Canberra, June 19 (AAP) - A Labor backbencher has called on city drivers to abandon four-wheel drive vehicles to save petrol.
With petrol nudging $1.72 a litre in some cities, Daryl Melham, the member for the inner Sydney seat of Banks, said motorists should change their driving habits and better public transport networks should be developed.
Mr Melham said there needed to be long-term plans to reduce demand for petrol. "In my electorate, I saw a whole range of people leaving a show, the Wiggles, picking up their kids and going home, and they were all in 4WDs and petrol guzzlers," he told reporters.
"What do they need that for in Revesby and Panania?"
Liberal backbencher Chris Pearce on Thursday called for a 10 cent a litre cut in fuel excise - double Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's proposal.
Mr Pearce's suggestion was mocked by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and politely ignored by the Liberal frontbench.
Mr Melham said it did not make sense to throw money at a solution that only encouraged people to keep "guzzling and guzzling and guzzling".
"You've got to change people's habits. You've got to have a proper public transport system," he said.
Mr Rudd said Mr Pearce's plan was the third coalition position on excise and smacked of cheap populism.
"They will say anything and do anything on the question of petrol prices in order to achieve a cheap headline," Mr Rudd told parliament.
The government says Dr Nelson's proposed five cent cut would cost $1.8 billion a year, so a 10 cent cut would blow a huge hole in the budget.
Mr Pearce suggested the cut could be made by reducing the size of the $22 billion budget surplus which, he said, the government had allocated to "pre-electioneering slush funds".
"Kevin Rudd should give some taxes back to the Australian people," he said.
NRMA president Alan Evans said one way to tackle soaring prices would be to crack down on market speculators. "Governments have got to act. What we have now got is speculators in the market
manipulating, paying silly prices, buying huge amounts of crude oil on the futures market," Mr Evans told the Nine Network.
Mr Rudd said there was increasing concern across the international community about excessive speculation within the oil industry itself and increasing evidence that some financial institutions may be trading in oil as an investment, like shares or
currencies.
"This government, in partnership with foreign governments, will be doing what we can through the councils of the international community to act consistently on the question of the impact of speculation on global oil markets and any artificial manipulation of the global oil price which may occur as a result," he said.
A 20 cent difference in petrol prices across Sydney on Wednesday showed the value of his FuelWatch price monitoring scheme, Mr Rudd said.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said the opposition was "terminally out of touch" on the issue of petrol prices. "The fact is that we are in the middle of a third global oil shock," Mr Swan told parliament.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson will attend an emergency international conference on oil prices in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this weekend.
With petrol nudging $1.72 a litre in some cities, Daryl Melham, the member for the inner Sydney seat of Banks, said motorists should change their driving habits and better public transport networks should be developed.
Mr Melham said there needed to be long-term plans to reduce demand for petrol. "In my electorate, I saw a whole range of people leaving a show, the Wiggles, picking up their kids and going home, and they were all in 4WDs and petrol guzzlers," he told reporters.
"What do they need that for in Revesby and Panania?"
Liberal backbencher Chris Pearce on Thursday called for a 10 cent a litre cut in fuel excise - double Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson's proposal.
Mr Pearce's suggestion was mocked by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and politely ignored by the Liberal frontbench.
Mr Melham said it did not make sense to throw money at a solution that only encouraged people to keep "guzzling and guzzling and guzzling".
"You've got to change people's habits. You've got to have a proper public transport system," he said.
Mr Rudd said Mr Pearce's plan was the third coalition position on excise and smacked of cheap populism.
"They will say anything and do anything on the question of petrol prices in order to achieve a cheap headline," Mr Rudd told parliament.
The government says Dr Nelson's proposed five cent cut would cost $1.8 billion a year, so a 10 cent cut would blow a huge hole in the budget.
Mr Pearce suggested the cut could be made by reducing the size of the $22 billion budget surplus which, he said, the government had allocated to "pre-electioneering slush funds".
"Kevin Rudd should give some taxes back to the Australian people," he said.
NRMA president Alan Evans said one way to tackle soaring prices would be to crack down on market speculators. "Governments have got to act. What we have now got is speculators in the market
manipulating, paying silly prices, buying huge amounts of crude oil on the futures market," Mr Evans told the Nine Network.
Mr Rudd said there was increasing concern across the international community about excessive speculation within the oil industry itself and increasing evidence that some financial institutions may be trading in oil as an investment, like shares or
currencies.
"This government, in partnership with foreign governments, will be doing what we can through the councils of the international community to act consistently on the question of the impact of speculation on global oil markets and any artificial manipulation of the global oil price which may occur as a result," he said.
A 20 cent difference in petrol prices across Sydney on Wednesday showed the value of his FuelWatch price monitoring scheme, Mr Rudd said.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said the opposition was "terminally out of touch" on the issue of petrol prices. "The fact is that we are in the middle of a third global oil shock," Mr Swan told parliament.
Resources Minister Martin Ferguson will attend an emergency international conference on oil prices in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this weekend.
