House of Assembly: Tuesday, September 22, 2020

Contents

Fuel Price Monitoring

Ms BEDFORD (Florey) (15:02): My question is to the Attorney-General. Why have regulations not yet been made and tenders not published to implement the Fair Trading (Fuel Pricing Information) Amendment Act? With your leave and that of the house, I will explain.

Leave granted.

Ms BEDFORD: Over the past two months, since the passage of the government's preferred model, there is no record of regulations being made to implement the 30-minute model and the government is yet to ensure any tenders to procure a technology provider to operate the fuel pricing monitoring app. According to the ACCC, over the past 45 days petrol prices have remained over $1.10 a litre, often as high and in excess of $1.45, for all but eight days for the past 45.

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning and Local Government) (15:03): I thank the member for the question. I won't address the sort of factual issues that she has put in the question other than to indicate to her that, yes, the parliament has passed the new provision for mandatory reporting in relation to the data for all retailers.

I'm pleased to advise that Mr Soulio, our Commissioner for Consumer and Business Services, has a tender underway. There is an operator in Queensland. This is the Queensland model that we followed in the legislation that we passed here. That received some significant criticism, that company, by one of the members opposite, as being issues raised by the ACCC, and suggested there was some impropriety on their part. I don't agree with that but, nevertheless, it was made. So it was very important that we put this out to tender. I am advised that that process is underway and that we are expecting we will have that concluded as to someone who has accepted that position before Christmas.