Mr BALDWIN (Paterson—Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Industry) (15:28): What I would say to the shadow Treasurer is he has not even attempted to address the substance of the argument that he put forward in this MPI. The member for McMahon has come in here and tried to deliver a lecture about the cost of living. But not once did I hear him raise the carbon tax nor apologise for a carbon tax that delivered a cost impost of $550. The increase to fuel excise needs to be taken into a level of understanding and reality. In 2001, the level of excise was capped at 38.14c, which was 42 per cent of the price of fuel. Today in 2014, the excise is 25 per cent. The cost increase that will come in on 10 November is 0.0046c. What people are telling me they are more concerned with is the fluctuation in fuel prices at the bowser. And a report that I have pulled down shows a weekly fluctuation in fuel prices across capital cities of 6.4c in one week. In Brisbane it was 11.3c; in Sydney it was 12.2c; in Melbourne, 11.5c; in Adelaide, 10.9c; in Perth, 8.7c, in Hobart, 3c; on the Gold Coast, 16c; on the Sunshine Coast, 7.7c; in Darwin, 17.2c; and in Canberra, 3c. That is just one week's fuel price fluctuation. And we are talking about less than half a cent per litre. The reality is that this increase will be hypothecated so that all of the money raised will actually go into road infrastructure. It is not like taxes that the former government introduced that were just consumed into consolidated revenue. Being lectured on the cost-of-living increases by the member for McMahon is dishonest in itself. He uses the word 'dishonest' regularly, but it is dishonest in itself. No. 1, he has not apologised for the carbon tax that he voted to support and which he is lining up to reintroduce into the cost-of-living standard for each and every person. The reality is that we will spend every cent of this $2.2 billion on road infrastructure, plus more. In fact, in 2016-17 our spend on infrastructure will be around $8.7 billion in one year alone—$8.7 billion! Such is the dishonesty of the campaign from the Labor opposition that it has actually flowed through to people in the community. I will quote from an article by Steven Scott in The Courier-Mail today where it says: Carseldine resident Sonia Sahota, 22, says the price of fuel is "high enough as it is". Well, I can understand that. The article continues: The plan will see the fuel excise rise by half a cent— That is correct— to 38.6c per litre on November 10. Then she goes on in the article: … the current cost of petrol already placed pressure on her weekly budget. Well, nothing like the carbon tax. The article continued: The student estimated it cost her $50 to fill up and said she wouldn't support paying an extra two dollars in tax to fill up. Well, $50 worth of fuel is around 33—let's say 35—litres, which will cost 26c extra to fill up, not $2. So the carry-on by the Labor opposition about the massive cost increases needs to be brought into perspective. As I said, in 2001, when excise was capped, it was 42 per cent of the price of fuel. Today, because there have been no CPI increases, it sits at a margin of 25 per cent. That is because the price of fuel has increased—massively increased. But as I said, what we need to do is make sure that this measure, which will in part go down to helping pay for the road infrastructure, is committed to do that. And it will be done if the opposition supports it. By bringing this into a tariff measure it has 12 months to be put to the chamber to be voted upon. This is not without precedent. I sat in this chamber and watch the alcopops debate. That money was not hypothecated for all of it the to go into health—most of it went into consolidated revenue. Mr Conroy: That wasn't a revenue-raising measure! It was to reduce drinking rates! Mr BALDWIN: Consolidated revenue! So here we have an honest government introducing a half-a-cent increase in the cost of fuel, hypothecated into road infrastructure spending, and there we had a Labor government increasing alcopops tax and putting it into consolidated revenue. And even though they raised so much tax they still managed to spend more than they could ever raise. In fact, this is the opposition which, while in government, inherited a $20 billion surplus, no net debt and $45 billion in the bank—$45 billion in the bank! They left a debt for every Australian of around $13½ thousand. So being lectured on cost-of-living pressures by a Labor opposition is kind of like being lectured by Lucifer on fire safety! That is what it amounts to, because they are not honest in their arguments— Mr Conroy: Or you on probity! It's like being lectured by you on donations! Mr BALDWIN: What was that? Let me tell you, buckwheat, those same people donated to you and your campaign! So don't you lecture me on that! There is nothing wrong with accepting donations as a federal member of parliament, which you know only too well. So, again, you are being dishonest and deceitful, which is your normal pattern of approach, as it is for the whole of the Labor Party as it mounts its arguments—in particular, in relation to the cost of living and the increase in fuel. Ms Collins: You said there would be no increase taxes before the election! Mr BALDWIN: Don't you tell me about no increase in tax! Remember carbon tax? You actually stood up here and argued for it! You argued for the carbon tax! You argued to increase the cost-of-living pressures by $550 for each and every person. Opposition members interjecting— Mr BALDWIN: So don't you come in here and lecture me about broken promises! Ms Collins: You've doubled the deficit! Mr BALDWIN: We've doubled the deficit? I think you will find it was actually your patterns and projections that increased the deficit. What we have been trying to do is to pare them back, and you oppose it in each and every way. So whilst you lecture us about economic modelling, the reality is that you do nothing to support bringing down the debt of this nation—that debt per individual—and the interest bill of $1 billion a month alone puts added increased cost-of-living pressure on each and every person. What I would say to the opposition is to take a reality check. What we should be doing is looking at what we can do to flatten out fluctuations in the cost of each litre of fuel where, as I said, the variations on a day-by-day basis are way more than the cost of increase of this excise. I could understand their argument if, indeed, this money were going into consolidated revenue, which is what happened with every tax increase by the former Labor government. This money is being hypothecated into roads. In fact, there is so much money being spent—$8.7 billion, as I said in 2016-17—on roads alone. There are roadworks such as the East West Link, which is a $3 billion commitment; Adelaide's North-South Corridor, a $944 million commitment; the Perth Freight Link, now $925 million; the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, now $1.285 million; the Black Spot Program at $564 million; Roads to Recovery at $2.4 billion; the Northern Territory Roads Package at $77 million; the National Highway Upgrade— Mr Fitzgibbon: What about Paterson? What about the Hunter? Mr BALDWIN: That is because the roads have already been upgraded. They were done by the Howard government in Paterson. The whole of the Pacific Highway has been upgraded in Paterson by the Howard government. Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting— Mr Conroy interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Hon. BC Scott ): Order! The member for Hunter and the member for Charlton. The member for Paterson has the call. Mr BALDWIN: He's unbelievable! You can tweet that straight away and you can put how you— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Not me. Mr BALDWIN: Sorry—how the member for Hunter did not support money for road works in and around Maitland other than the F3 link which was started and commenced by the Howard government. Opposition members interjecting— Mr BALDWIN: Oh, you live in a life of fantasy, you live in a life of denial and you do not understand. People across Australia will understand that the price fluctuations in fuel on a daily basis will be much greater than what they will be contributing in a small increase in excise—less than half a cent a litre—on 10 November. I say to people: support this. It will pay for road works, it will make roads much safer and it will provide greater fuel economies as we improve the roads of Australia.