Greens side with Labor to fight fuel tax rise which Abbott Government hopes will raise $4 billion over four years for roads

THE Greens have dealt a blow to an Abbott government plan to reintroduce regular tax rises on fuel.

Motorist Nada Bradas uses the new vapour safe bowsers, introduced by Caltex Oil Company that stop petrol vapours escaping into the environment, at her local Caltex service station at Manly in Sydney.

THE Government’s bid to push up petrol prices appears doomed with the Greens today siding with Labor and key cross bench senators to block it.

That means Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s massive road building program could be denied funding from the excise increase calculated in the Budget to be $4 billion over four years.

The Greens initially said they would back the excise jump because it could reduce the use of cars and therefore lower carbon emissions from exhausts.

Mr Abbott himself called the excise increase a “price signal” to lower the use of fossil fuels when he recently met US President Barak Obama.

Oh dear, the Greens have dealt a blow to Abbott’s plan to reintroduce regular tax rises on fuel. Picture: Gary Ramage

However the Greens, after a vigorous internal debate, today ditched their support when it became clear the revenue from the fuel tax would not be used to fund public transport alternatives to the family car, and in fact could encourage greater car use by building new roads.

“This fuel excise increase is not a tax on pollution, it’s a tax on families who have no access to public transport,” Greens Leader Christine Milne said today.

She said the Government had a “hypocritical and inconsistent approach to reducing carbon pollution” and would not negotiate on changes to its plans to send all revenue from excise to the roads program.

“We also have zero confidence in the Prime Minister’s word, who says one thing and does another. The Greens will therefore vote down the package as a whole with no negotiation,” she said.

Christine Milne: ‘Why should Gina Rinehart get cheap fuel when ordinary commuters suffer?’ Picture: Hollie Adams

No detailed modelling of the effect the excise — frozen for more than a decade — would have on family expenses has been made public. Mr Abbott has said it would, in the first year, add 40 cents a week to the average family’s expenses although another calculation has put this at 55 cents.

A key issue in the Greens’ decision was that big mining companies would not have to pay more for diesel used off-road.

“The Prime Minister doesn’t get it. Fuel excise should be about moving away from pollution, but Tony Abbott just sees it as a way of raising revenue by taxing families who have no access to public transport,” Senator Milne said.

“The Greens support taking pollution but it makes absolutely no sense to put the money into roads. That will increase congestion and make it harder for families in places with little or no public transport.

“Big miners should pay more for fuel just like everyone else. Why should Gina Rinehart get cheap fuel when ordinary commuters suffer?”

Originally published as Greens side with Labor to fight fuel tax rise which Abbott Government hopes will raise $4 billion over four years for roads