SUBJECTS: Passage of FuelWatch legislation, GROCERYChoice website.
CHRIS BOWEN:
Thanks for coming ladies and gentlemen. Of course you've all seen the comments by Senator Xenophon this morning. Now, in the current environment in the Senate every significant piece of Government legislation requires significant discussion and negotiation through the Senate. This was always going to be the case with FuelWatch and I'm particularly unsurprised about the comments this morning.
Now Senator Xenophon has indicated that he wants to see more transparency in the petrol market. What does the Government want to see? The Government wants to see more transparency. The Government wants to see an end to the days when you drive past a petrol station in the morning and see a certain price and drive past in the afternoon and see a price 10 or 15 cents a litre higher. I think Senator Xenophon would like to see an end to those days as well. Senator Xenophon has indicated he's open to talk to the Government and of course we are too. I think we're all coming from the same direction. We want to give motorists a fair go. We want to give motorists a lot more information. We want to end the situation that the ACCC says is as close to collusion as you can get and still be legal. They're our fundamental policy aims.
The only people opposed to those aims are the Liberal party and Dr Nelson, who don't seem to support more transparency in the petrol market; don't seem to support more competition. So of course, in the lead up to the vote in the Senate, we'll be taking up Senator Xenophon on his offer of discussions and we'll be talking through the issues and if there's anything that he can sensibly propose, which would meet his concerns, while meeting the fundamental policy aims of the Government to get more transparency into the petrol market and to end what is effectively collusion in the petrol market, we'd be more than happy to talk those through with him.
JOURNALIST:
What are you prepared to do to save FuelWatch?
CHRIS BOWEN:
Oh well look, these are always matters for discussion and negotiation and we'll do that as we talk it through. The fundamental policy tenant for us, is that we want more competition and more transparency and if those fundamental aims of FuelWatch can be met, we'll be more than happy to consider any sensible suggestions.
JOURNALIST:
Are you sure FuelWatch will give more competition? Could it just result in a duopoly?
CHRIS BOWEN:
Well what FuelWatch is about is calling a tender. When a Government has a significant expenditure they say to people 'put in a tender, give us your best price', and that's what FuelWatch does. It gives motorists a chance to call for a tender and therefore it makes the market more competitive. Now, as I say, we're more than happy to talk about any sensible suggestions that Senator Xenophon and any other Senator has to make, which would meet those concerns.
JOURNALIST:
Senator Fielding today suggested a trial in New South Wales to confirm stats that have come out of Western Australia. What do you think of that suggestion?
CHRIS BOWEN:
Well we've had a trial effectively in Western Australia for eight years and I think we need to see this rolled out across the country as soon as possible. So, while I'm always happy to talk to Senator Fielding, and we have and we'll continue to do so, I do think that we need to ensure that this is out across the country as soon as possible,
JOURNALIST:
Do you think Senator Xenophon and Senator Fielding are just playing political games in saying they won't vote for this?
CHRIS BOWEN:
In any significant legislation you always have negotiation, brinkmanship, discussion. That's perfectly understandable; that's exactly what the Government expected in this instance and that's exactly what we're seeing. They have a legitimate role to play and it's legitimate for them to state their concerns and legitimate for us to respond and to work those issues through with them.
JOURNALIST:
The RACV have said they won't support FuelWatch unless there's downward flexibility in fuel prices. Would you consider that?
CHRIS BOWEN:
The RACV has opposed FuelWatch all the way, just as the NRMA has supported FuelWatch all the way. These are matters for discussion between myself and the relevant Senators.
JOURNALIST:
Would you consider downward flexibility in prices?
CHRIS BOWEN:
We'll consider anything which maintains the fundamental tenants of FuelWatch - price certainty, so that when people get to the service station they know they're not going to be slugged with a 10 or 15 cent a litre increase on what they thought. Just last week we saw a 20 cent rise over one day and we saw people complaining, very legitimately, that they had no warning of this. Well FuelWatch would take that away. FuelWatch would say to people 'prices are going up tomorrow', and so people could say 'well thankyou very much for that information. I am going to buy tonight'. So that's the fundamental tenant of FuelWatch. We'll talk the issues through with the relevant Senators.
JOURNALIST:
So you're not ruling out making any possible changes to the scheme if neither Senator votes?
CHRIS BOWEN:
I'm not ruling out any sensible suggestions which Senator Xenophon or Senator Fielding or any other Senator would wish to make which would meet their concerns and would assure the passage through the Senate, because this is far too important, to see FuelWatch go down because of political brinkmanship. We need to see a system which fundamentally introduces more competition and gives consumers a fair go and that's what we'll argue vigorously for.
JOURNALIST:
On another matter, I understand the Assistant Governor of the Reserve Bank has said the Government shouldn't intervene in the retail mortgage market. Does this mean the Government has plans to intervene?
CHRIS BOWEN:
Well I haven't seen those comments, so I would need to check those comments. But can I say the Treasurer indicated on the weekend that the Government had no plans to go down that road. So I think what the Assistant Governor was indicating was that he supports the Government's approach.
JOURNALIST:
Kevin Rudd last week said that there might be some changes to the Grocery watch website, has there been any development on that?
CHRIS BOWEN:
Well I indicated on the day that we launched the GroceryChoice website that we would like to see more information on it over time, and the appropriate time to do that was once it was up and running. Then enter into discussions with both retailers and consumer groups about what extra information we could put onto the grocery website over time.
Now, can I say that as of Monday night we have had 2.1 million hits on the grocery website, GROCERYchoice.gov.au. I think what that indicates is that the Australia community is very interested in more information, whatever information we can give them - of course we will do whatever we can to give it too them.
I note that the Liberal party is running around saying 'we'll abolish it'. Well the 2.1 million Australians who have logged on indicate that people do want that extra information. And any sensible information we can give them, of course we will do so, in consultation with those consumer groups and retailers.
JOURNALIST:
Do you think the popularity of the grocery watch website is a sign that the Australian people would support the FuelWatch scheme?
CHRIS BOWEN:
In fairness, GROCERYchoice and FuelWatch are very different things. They are very different policy tools, to deal with very different problems.
In the fuel market, what you have is people driving past a petrol station in the morning saying that looks like a reasonable price, and then driving past in the afternoon to fill up and finding the price 20 cents per litre higher. So FuelWatch deals with that.
GROCERYchoice is a very different policy tool. It gives people a snapshot, a guide, of the competition in their local area. I don't think fairness that we can compare the two in terms of popularity or in terms of public response.
JOURNALIST:
Fuelwatch is one of the first pieces of legislation to go to the new Senate - do you think it is a bad sign for the Government because you have had so much trouble?
CHRIS BOWEN:
Look, when you have the situation where you need the support of minor parties, the Greens, Senator Fielding and Senator Xenophon, any significant Government legislation is always going to be difficult to pass through the Senate. Any significant piece of legislation is going to involve intensive negotiations, discussion, and dare I say it, brinkmanship.
I think that FuelWatch is merely the first cab off the rank.
JOURNALIST:
One of the problems the senators has brought up is they think independents will be squeezed out of the market. They say that there has been some evidence brought to the Senate on that topic, do you have anything to....
CHRIS BOWEN:
The evidence from Western Australia where this system has been in operation for eight years is that the number of independents in Western Australia as a proportion is no different to the rest of the country, and that FuelWatch has had no impact on independents.
All I can do is repeat, that if they do have those concerns, I am happy to talk them through with them and talk through any possible suggestions they have to ameliorate those concerns.
Thanks for your time.