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Last updated on July 13th, 2017 at 01:50 pm
A first act:
One of Mr Rudd’s first acts as prime minister will be to move to ratify the Kyoto Protocol.
And another first act:
Appointing a petrol price commissioner to monitor big oil companies will be one of the incoming Labor government’s first acts, Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd says.
For his second act, Mr Rudd will explain how cheaper fuel helps Australia meet its Kyoto emissions target.
Third act: the conversion of his government car to run on auricular wax.
Posted by Honkie Hammer on 2007 11 30 at 12:21 AM • permalink
Except KRudd isn’t promising cheaper fuel:
Mr Rudd said he could not promise that petrol prices would be lower.
“As I said before the election, I cannot guarantee a petrol price or a grocery price or a house price,” he said.
“What I can say is that we can through competition policy have a petrol price commissioner.
I’m still trying to figure out what the last sentence means.
Except KRudd isn’t promising cheaper fuel:
Mr Rudd said he could not promise that petrol prices would be lower.
“As I said before the election, I cannot guarantee a petrol price or a grocery price or a house price,” he said.
“What I can say is that we can through competition policy have a petrol price commissioner.
I’m still trying to figure out what the last sentence means.
But I’ll look into it.
kae – I think he means he will give the ACCC more power – this is his competition policy. But the ACCC have conducted about 30 enquiries into petrol pricing and are happy with it, and they don’t really want more power, as they have already shown a remarkable ability not to successfully prosecute anyone for this kind of market abuse.
PF – the rubbing of hands from labor / union staffers for cushy govt jobs can be heard around the nation. Those promises have to be kept you know.
- #7 kae
He can’t guarantee lower prices but he’ll look into it.
Is George Orwell writing his blather now?Bit like Dr Kark Krinkenicksbumpersticker who claimed he was so worried about GW he was going to do something about it.He was going to run for the senate for the Climate Change Coalition*.
Gee, that should make a difference!
*Hmmm climate change coalition. Are they for it or agin it?
- Fuel Subsidy Inquiry, Qld.
We had an inquiry up here.
If you have some time go there and have a quick perusal of the transcripts, looking particularly for the ones by the Petrol companies and how they applied the 8c per litre government rebate.
Which it seems they pocketed. (After cooking the books.)The inquiry achieved 4/5 of 5/8 of fuckall.
The retail market for petrol is relatively competitive in Australia given the web of government regulation surrounding petrol retailing and the Federal excise on fuel. The only way to lower petrol prices would be remove this regulation or reduce taxes. I can’t see either of these things happening under Rudd.
A petrol price commissioner is purely window dressing.
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2007 11 30 at 01:12 AM • permalink
Yes. But will any of this affect beer fridges?
Posted by andycanuck on 2007 11 30 at 01:49 AM • permalink
He wants to lower petrol prices so that when he slaps on a carbon tax, the price hike won’t scare the pants off too many people.
Sorry, carbon levy, or greenhouse gas contribution. Can’t call a planet saving impost a “tax”.
Posted by mr creosote on 2007 11 30 at 02:27 AM • permalink
Yeah, but pronounce it ‘Commissar’ and it has a certain retro chic
Big Jim, then I guess we can expect petrol shortages, rationing, queues and corruption.
But, at least the uniforms will look snappy.
Posted by Art Vandelay on 2007 11 30 at 03:23 AM • permalink
Hehe Sir Humphrey Appleby is now the PM …
KRudd and his mates down at the ACTU could set up Trade Union operated petrol stations to provide some real competition to Big Oil.
The ACTU has form in this regard, having sucessfully operated, er… operated…the Solo fuel business some decades back (it disappeared so thoroughly it’s hard to find any trace of it I’m sad to report).
#13 that would have to be the biggest joke of an inquiry on petrol I have ever had the misfortune to read. It is not rocket science, but straightforward economics, that if you pay a consumer subsidy directly to the supplier they will extract rent. The only way to make sure the consumer benefits is to pay it directly to the consumer.. The Qld government isn’t interested in that though, as such a scheme would cost too much to run.
So what did the brains trust come up with? A benchmark weekly price. In other words, the rent is still extracted by the oil company, and we pay more overall as the benchmark eliminates the weekly lows in petrol prices. FFS.
And for his third act he could (at one performance) say Sorry to the aboriginals for the shafting they allegedly got back then (i.e. when trying to drag at least some of them out of a moribund lifestyle) and Sorry again for the shafting they are about to get when the intervention is shelved and their moribund lifestyle is allowed (again) to bite them on the bum big time.
Appointing a petrol price commissioner to monitor big oil companies will be one of the incoming Labor government’s first acts, Prime Minister-elect Kevin Rudd says.
That would be easy to implement. Hire somebody at minimum wage, print up business cards reading Petrol Price Commissioner, furnish him (or her) with a clip board and a bicycle, and send him (or her) around making notes of prices, thus monitoring big oil companies, and little ones as well.
#26 The ACTU ran solo into the ground – was bought by Ampol which then shut most of the sites – as you can imagine union lackeys know very little about business & had a great collection of shitty sites in poor locations. Some of the better ones became Ampol , which was merged with Caltex – now most Ampol sites have gone – the only Ampol I can recall seeing in recent years is the Overlander Roadhouse on the way to Shark Bay .
- the only Ampol I can recall seeing in recent years is the Overlander Roadhouse on the way to Shark Bay .
and on the Princes Hwy at Bomaderry, (a Liberal held seat).Posted by surfmaster on 2007 12 01 at 07:38 AM • permalink
Cheaper fuel will allow working families to better afford climate change conferences in Bali.