A Liberal backbencher has called for Opposition Leader Brendan Nelson to double his promise to cut fuel excise from five cents a litre to 10 cents.
Speaking to ABC Radio’s AM, MP Christopher Pearce has asked Mr Nelson and his colleagues to consider the proposal.
What strikes me about all of this fuel excise nonsense is that the idea has been floating around for weeks, and we constantly hear what the politicians think about it, what the pundits think about it, and what the punters think about it. In mainstream news reporting, I don’t seem to be hearing what the economists think about it. I suspect it would be fairly similar to this.
Kudos to Daryl Melham for a nice response to Pearce’s upping of the ante:
“What he shows is he’s a dope,” he said.
“A five cent cut in petrol will cost $1.8 billion a year. Who’s going to suffer? Hospitals, education, a whole range of areas in relation to services,” he said.
“Ten cents a cut would devastate spending because you do the cut, spending suffers.”
