Page 2838 - Week 13 - Wednesday, 22 November 1989
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to him. Anyway, he is the person responsible. It concerns the frequent and substantial fluctuations in the retail price of petrol in the ACT. Can the Minister provide any reason for these fluctuations and does he consider it remarkable that the prices always seem to peak around every public service payday?
MR WHALAN: Petrol pricing in the ACT has been a vexed question for many years and to a certain extent we have been made victims of the concentration of ownership and control of petrol distribution throughout Australia. There do not seem to be too many easy solutions. The Prices Surveillance Authority is responsible for setting the maximum wholesale price for petroleum products. It recently took a decision to reduce the maximum wholesale price of petrol by 1.5c per litre.
The chairman of the Prices Surveillance Authority announced on 14 June 1989 that the Federal Government had agreed to a public inquiry by the PSA into national petrol prices. The decision follows a series of price increases this year. The inquiry commenced on 25 July 1989. It is expected to be completed and a report submitted by the end of the year.
In the 1987 inquiry into petrol prices in Canberra the PSA highlighted location policy as a major component affecting petrol prices in the ACT. This issue was addressed by the former NCDC in its 1988 revised policy on service station sites. An effective investigation is also being undertaken by my department into the effects on ACT prices of freight differentials and the petroleum products freight subsidy scheme. These aspects are not being considered by the PSA in its inquiry.
In conclusion, Mr Speaker, I submit that the occasional price war which we see, which is relatively limited in its duration, is only a ploy on the part of the petroleum companies to reduce the possibility of firm action being taken by the Government to look after the interests of consumers. I expect that, once the final report of the PSA is handed down to the Commonwealth Government later this year, we will be in a better position to decide whether or not we, as a government, should take some more direct action in relation to this issue.
Mitchell Industrial Area
MR WOOD: Mr Speaker, I direct a question to the Minister for Industry, Employment and Education about the future role of the light industrial area of Mitchell, especially if the major work at Gungahlin proceeds. In the first instance, could the Minister advise us of the approximate work force at Mitchell now and how it may develop under existing planning approvals? Ahead of any development in Gungahlin, could he say what it might expand to?
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