Australia: New Senator Wants FuelWatch Amendments

Mr Xenophon, whose vote - together with those of the Greens and Family First's Steve Fielding - will be needed to pass the legislation, has "serious reservations" about FuelWatch's potential effect on independent operators.

He said one alternative, that would retain the spirit of what the Government wanted, would be to give the public access to the "Informed Sources" database to which many service stations subscribe. This lets petrol stations see what prices their competitors are charging.

As a state MP he had proposed a fuel watch scheme but had abandoned the idea after he scratched below the surface.

"There is much more the Commonwealth could do on petrol prices than FuelWatch," he said. Measures included strengthening competition laws and taking a close look at the fuel market and the oil companies' stranglehold on it. He would propose an inquiry into fuel supplies and the fuel market in Australia.

Mr Xenophon said he wanted to work co-operatively with other crossbenchers to deal constructively with Government legislation. "There are some people who say that for the Government, dealing with the crossbenchers will be trying to herd cats. I'm a bit more optimistic."

Democrats leader Lyn Allison predicted the new Senate, which will have no Democrats, would be "very difficult" for the Government. She would not be surprised if there was a double dissolution "in the not too distant future".

Any bill which the Opposition opposed would require the votes of all five Greens, plus senators Fielding and Xenophon, and "that's a disparate bunch".

The Greens were more extreme and fundamentalist than the Democrats and less inclined to negotiate and bend; they hadn't played the balance of power role, she said. "It could be that quite a few bills are blocked and eventually the Government will want to resolve that. The only way to do it is a double dissolution," she said

PetrolWorld 220608  Source : Local Media