Tapering the right thing, prime minister says in defence of $400m in fuel relief
Anthony Albanese said reducing fuel excise duty was a sensible measure to give drivers certainty as sensitive peace talks were under threat and Iran said it was closing the Strait of Hormuz because of Israel’s ongoing attacks on Lebanon.
The Prime Minister said on Sunday that drivers will get a 16 cents per liter discount for July; That’s an extra month of relief, but at half the 32-cent discount that’s been in place since April. The announcement came after the United States and Iran signed a memorandum of understanding on Friday to end hostilities.
On Sunday, Iran accused the United States of “clearly violating its commitments” by not ending Israel’s attacks on Lebanon.
Albanese will meet state and territory leaders in the national cabinet on Monday and said he expected them to “do the right thing” and agree to continue giving up GST windfall profits to help extend the aid.
“Withdrawal is a logical thing,” Albanese told Sky News. “We know families are still under pressure, and we also know that the economic impact of this conflict on the other side of the world will be long lasting.”
While oil prices have fallen this week, he said it will take some time for that to be reflected at the pump.
“I have a national cabinet meeting on Monday and I have already held talks with the President of the Federation Council, Prime Minister Roger Cook, to let him know that we will accept a proposal and I am confident that the states will step back accordingly, just as they have done the right thing before.”
The extension is expected to cost $400 million.
Albanese said the government would continue to assess conditions in the Middle East and respond appropriately to future shocks.
Asked whether the country would join the United States if it lifted sanctions on Iran, Albanese said Australia would make its own decisions.
“Remember this was an Iranian attack on Australian territory. We do not take this lightly; we expelled the Iranian ambassador from Australia; this was the first time an ambassador had been expelled since the second world war.”
Ted O’Brien, the coalition’s foreign affairs spokesman, said the peace deal between the United States and Iran was fragile and accused the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah of undermining the deal with attacks on Israel.
“If you think about it from an Australian perspective, if we were actually raining down missiles on our country, the expectation would be for our government to take action,” he told the ABC. insider.
“We’re facing a terrorist organization, we’re facing Hezbollah again. This is Iran’s proxy, a despotic regime that is killing not only its own people but other people around the world, and that’s what makes it so complicated that I don’t think we can simplify it.”
While O’Brien said Labor should be commended for gradually reducing the excise duty cut, Opposition Leader Angus Taylor was more cautious and said he had not seen all the details.
“I understand the logic of phasing this out, and as I said, we’ll look at it, but we’ve supported fuel excise cuts from the beginning,” Taylor said. “We actually proposed this in the first place and Labor copied us.”
Taylor said the relief would need to be balanced with cuts from other parts of the budget.
Former Nationals leader David Littleproud told Channel Nine: Today He welcomed the extension of the fuel excise tax cut in the scheme but said it was “still a blow to the gut” for drivers.
“We do not have a permanent peace agreement in the Middle East. It will take some time for this to be concluded,” he said.
Brittany Busch is the federal politics correspondent for The Age and the Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.
