Simon Crean has been caught out trying to scare Australians living in rural and regional Australia over the Fuel Sales Grant Scheme – and even his own Party disagrees with him.
Today, Mr Crean issued a statement saying that the Fuel Sales Grants Scheme was being axed without an alternative.
Not only is this completely untrue.
Not only is the Fuel Sales Grant Scheme being replaced by a new fuel tax credit system that will lower compliance costs for businesses and individuals in country Australia.
Not only will the new system mean a $100 million per year reduction in fuel tax on electricity generation.
Not only will the new system extended fuel tax credits to around 54,000 heavy petrol vehicles.
The Labor Party voted in support of this new legislation in the Senate on the 22nd of June 2006.
Labor don’t really know where they stand on this issue.
In 2000 Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon considered the Bill a farce and argued that the fuel grants scheme was "a ridiculous squandering of taxpayers' money."
Further, during the last Federal Election campaign Labor had proposed to abolish the Fuel Sales Grants Scheme from 1January2005.
Perhaps Mr Crean should check what his Party stands for before he embarks on political scare campaigns.
Or like most Australians, does he simply not know what his party stands for.
That fact is the new fuel tax credit system will remove the burden of fuel tax from thousands of individual businesses and households, particularly in rural and regional Australia.
For more information visit www.ato.gov.au/fuelschemes or phone the Tax Office on 132866 between 8.00am and 6.00pm Monday to Friday.