Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / Senator Rex Patrick says people need to call their local members and make it known they need relief at the fuel bowser

Transcript

Senator Rex Patrick says people need to call their local members and make it known they need relief at the fuel bowser · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: I think that here in the Northern Territory we are
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: going to be feeling the impact of these petrol price
• 0:06
  Speaker 1: rises well and truly across the board. I mean, even
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: as Louise has just pointed out, there's some of the
• 0:12
  Speaker 1: things that you might not have even thought of in
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  Speaker 1: terms of, you know, the generators in some of those
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  Speaker 1: remote communities. But then when you're talking about freight being
• 0:21
  Speaker 1: transported to regional Australia to us here in the territory
• 0:24
  Speaker 1: more remote areas as well, it's going to have a
• 0:27
  Speaker 1: big impact. And it's something that the Independent Senator Rex
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: Patrick has been speaking about for a little while now,
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  Speaker 1: and he has called to cut the current fuel excise
• 0:38
  Speaker 1: in order to address the high cost of living in Australia.
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  Speaker 1: He told Sky News Australia that Scott Morrison's put sixteen
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  Speaker 1: billion dollars aside in an election war chest and he
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  Speaker 1: feels that realistically we could be doing more to help
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  Speaker 1: every Australian family and every Australian small business. He joins
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  Speaker 1: me on the line right now, Good morning to your Senate.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Good morning Catie, good to have you on the show.
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  Speaker 1: Senator. There is no doubt about it. I mean in
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  Speaker 1: the territory. Yesterday I was getting ready to finish the show,
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  Speaker 1: and before we wrapped up, we realized that the diesel
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  Speaker 1: and unleaded prices had gone above two dollars for the
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  Speaker 1: first time that I can ever remember.
• 1:19
  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, look, it's two dollars twenty and adelaide at
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  Speaker 2: the moment, and it's predicted to go up to something
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  Speaker 2: around the two fifty to two seventy dollars per per
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  Speaker 2: to two dollars seventy per liter. Now, that is going
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  Speaker 2: to hurt families, That is going to hurt businesses in
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  Speaker 2: the wake of COVID. And there is a solution to this.
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  Speaker 2: Every time you fill up your tank, forty four cents
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  Speaker 2: of per liter goes into the pockets of Scott Morrison
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  Speaker 2: and Josh Friedenberg. They can relieve families and small businesses
• 1:52
  Speaker 2: as immediately by harving that fuel excise. And that's what
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: should be done.
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  Speaker 1: And Senator, you called for this happened earlier in the week.
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  Speaker 1: It's been locked back, hasn't it.
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  Speaker 2: Well. I actually called for it on the around about
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  Speaker 2: the twenty second of February. I could see that we
• 2:10
  Speaker 2: were in a you know, that we were likely to
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  Speaker 2: have a conflict in Ukraine that would drive the costs
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  Speaker 2: up even further, and of course it's predicted that they
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  Speaker 2: will go even higher. This is a non discretionary spind
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  Speaker 2: for most families. You know, you have to go to work,
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  Speaker 2: you have to go to school, you have to go
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  Speaker 2: and get the groceries, and you may well have to
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  Speaker 2: take someone to a doctor or to a hospital. You
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  Speaker 2: can't get around this spend and it's crippling. At the
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  Speaker 2: same time that we're seeing rent rises, we're seeing rises
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  Speaker 2: in the cost of groceries. This is going to affect
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  Speaker 2: inflation that may well drive up interest rates in circumstances
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  Speaker 2: where we have wage stagnation right across Australia. This is
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  Speaker 2: bad and the government needs to react to this, and
• 3:02
  Speaker 2: the government has rejected this despite the fact that they
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  Speaker 2: have set aside as you indicated, a sixteen billion dollar
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  Speaker 2: war chest going into the election to pork barrel. Now
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  Speaker 2: that just everyone understands what that means, that taxpayers money
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  Speaker 2: being given to marginal seats or select groups of people
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  Speaker 2: to buy votes when we've got everyday Australian's suffering right
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  Speaker 2: across the country and you.
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  Speaker 1: Know, obviously it's an issue right around Australia. As you've
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  Speaker 1: pointed out in South Australia right now, two dollars twenty
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  Speaker 1: That is unbelievable.
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  Speaker 2: You know.
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  Speaker 1: I suppose a difficulty for us here in the Northern
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  Speaker 1: Territory and other regional and remote areas of Australia as well,
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  Speaker 1: is that it's not just the petrol price in terms
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  Speaker 1: of going to fill your vehicle up, but it's your frace,
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  Speaker 1: it's the generation of power in some of those different
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  Speaker 1: remote communities. It's going to be a real kick in
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  Speaker 1: the guts for so many Aussise.
• 3:56
  Speaker 2: It is, and that's why we have to reduce this
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  Speaker 2: fuel size. We have a situation during COVID where more
• 4:03
  Speaker 2: than thirteen billion dollars of taxpayers money was provided to
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  Speaker 2: companies who had an increase in revenue over the period
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  Speaker 2: where COVID was at its height. And yet that was
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  Speaker 2: us helping businesses that didn't need the money, and that
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  Speaker 2: would seemed to be okay for Josh Frodenberg. Now we've
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  Speaker 2: got regular families needing some help and the government's turning
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  Speaker 2: their back on them. And I might point out that
• 4:31
  Speaker 2: Anthony albinis and in the surprises me, he is someone
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  Speaker 2: who says that he supports the Battler has not basically
• 4:39
  Speaker 2: coming behind me and backed this call. Basically sitting on
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  Speaker 2: the fence, doesn't want to upset any Apple Carts at
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  Speaker 2: this point of view. And I think that's very sad
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  Speaker 2: of labor who again they purport to be working for
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  Speaker 2: the Batler, but are not coming out and supporting them
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  Speaker 2: at this suport in time.
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  Speaker 1: And you know what, someone's got to stand up for
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  Speaker 1: the Batler. And it does sound as though you're doing
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  Speaker 1: a good job of it, Senator, and I hope that,
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  Speaker 1: you know, I hope that some common sense prevails here.
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  Speaker 1: We're just catching up with the Transport Association and they
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  Speaker 1: were telling us that, you know, for some of these
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  Speaker 1: some of these truckies, some of our freight companies that
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  Speaker 1: realistically that you know, the more that these prices go up,
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  Speaker 1: it is going to then be passed on to the consumer,
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  Speaker 1: it's going to have to be in some way. So
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  Speaker 1: we're going to be getting hit in every angle.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, yes, look, this is this is actually going to
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  Speaker 2: get worse. There's no question about this. And I just
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  Speaker 2: remind your listeners that we are a couple of months
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  Speaker 2: away from a federal election. It's at this point in
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  Speaker 2: time that they have the most power that they have
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  Speaker 2: in a democracy. After the election, what will happen is
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  Speaker 2: politicians will just turn their backs on constituents for the
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  Speaker 2: next couple of years. So people need to be making
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  Speaker 2: some noise about this. I'm glad that the media have
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  Speaker 2: started paying a real tention to this, but people have
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  Speaker 2: got to be picking up their phones, letting their federal
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  Speaker 2: members know that this is unacceptable, that they need relief,
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  Speaker 2: and ultimately, taxpayers dollars are their dollars.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. Well, Senator rex Patrick, I really
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  Speaker 1: appreciate your time this morning and it's short notice. Thank
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: you very much for having a chat with me.
• 6:20
  Speaker 2: You're welcome, Katie, thank you.