It's Budget Man Versus Captain Negative
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday June 17, 2008
THE Resources Minister, Martin Ferguson, has called for calm over petrol, saying it was a global problem that would not be helped by squabbling at home.
With the Government again under attack from the Opposition yesterday, Mr Ferguson said the reasons for high prices were many and an international response was required. "It's about time we understood that it's a serious debate not only confronting Australia but also the global community," he said."There's no simple solution to the problem of record oil prices and no one nation can shoulder the burden on its own."Mr Ferguson will represent Australia at an emergency international conference in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, this weekend. A Herald/Nielsen poll published yesterday showed 78 per cent of voters wanted the Government to take action on petrol prices. Of these, 67 per cent - which translates to 52 per cent of all voters - advocated cutting fuel excise. Only 22 per cent - or 17 per cent of all voters wanting Government intervention - supported Labor's FuelWatch scheme.Responding to the poll, Mr Rudd said the Government had received the message "loud and clear" but rejected the demand by the Opposition Leader, Brendan Nelson, that he cut fuel excise by 5 cents a litre. He said the tax cuts and other relief measures in the budget were a more economically responsible way of helping people with the increased cost of petrol and other necessities, and his Government had a longer-term strategy that included developing a green car industry in Australia. He warned it was the worst global oil shock in 30 years and said predicting future oil prices is difficult. "It's a very murky future that we face," he told ABC TV's 7:30 Report. He said Dr Nelson was "Captain Negative" and was driven by "cheap tabloid politics, not responsible economic management". Figures released yesterday by the Australian Institute of Petroleum showed the national average price for unleaded fuel was a record $1.58 a litre. An equities economist at CommSec, Savanth Sebastian, predicted they would rise to $1.75 within a fortnight. "The average Australian household is forking out $221.76 a month on petrol, up almost $53 in the past eight months," he said. The Saudis agreed on the weekend to increase oil production by 500,000 barrels a day from July after Western governments put pressure on OPEC. Labor distributed comments made by the Opposition treasury spokesman, Malcolm Turnbull, ridiculing criticism of OPEC as "an attempt to distract attention from these monumental policy failures over petrol prices".
© 2008 Sydney Morning Herald