"Politicians need to tell the truth about their respective policy options rather than merely expressing an awareness of issues or blaming the previous government for the nation’s current woes ..."

I agree with the concept of politicians telling the truth. But it's unlikely they will any time soon and especially on a live program like Q&A, where any serious slip-up is fatal to a political career.

What if you got Brendon Nelson on the program? All you would get is a plethora of mini-truths which, when added together, would just give you random Brownian motion.

What we really need is a Government that has got the balls to tell the truth and then butter up with real leadership that takes the country in a new direction and to a better place.

I have tried to watch QandA but when Tony Jones permits yet another question on fuel prices I switch to the Footy Show. Australian pollies can't control petrol prices and I want to hear what plans there are to reduce our dependence on fuel complete with time lines and money to start work.

I haven't watched for long enough to know that questions about environment, social and labor conditions had been asked

Pollies cannot control petrol prices is rubbish

China has a regime of subsidising petrol use, they have artificially lower fuel price for their citizens

At the moment petrol excise is based on a percentage of fuel price, the higher the fuel price, the more money the government gets.

So to give us back a little of the extra they are taking is well within their ability

They can also increase petrol prices with a carbon trading scheme tax, which they are going to do, which will again effect fuel price, so it is wrong to say governments cannot affect the price of fuel

dovif1,

I think you've fallen into a trap for young players.

Yes, the Government can affect the price in the (very) short term, but no sooner does this happen than the companies in the market take the price up to what it used to be before the public can notice the difference. You just need to look at what happened on childcare the other day when ABC Learning raised its childcare fees by 11% in response to the Government's increase in the childcare rebate.

What's happening is that the company is "filling the hole" that has been created. This does not benefit the consumer much at all. At least when the Government has got the money, instead of the market, the money can come back to us by way of services, etc. Or that's the theory anyway.

What you've suggested is the same as digging a hole in the ground and saying it will never get filled in. Natural forces/processes, all by themselves, will fill the hole.

I think Q&A just gives us a chance to see politicians as humans instead of soundbite machines. The panel format allows them to joke around a bit and not have to stay on message all the time. It works well when politicians relax a bit (Tony Abbott) and gets annoying when they just keep politicking and have to have the last word on every issue(Julie Bishop).

In the end it is just a TV show and not a panacea for the nations problems.

After the fist show, I got halfway through the second one before switching the TV off. I think it's a lightweight program with haphazard structure, and doesn't tell us much about anything, let alone Australian politics.

BobP

The government makes 35c on Petrol at the moment in excise tax and GST is on top of that. The government can drop that to 0 if they want to and Petrol will drop from $1.60 to $1.20, if they want to include Petrol in carbon trading scheme, they can raise the price of petrol from $1.60 to $2.00. The government can make a 40% difference in price of petrol

BobP you fall into the trap of just blindly agreeing with what every politician says, there is a difference between what they say and what happens with their budget, if they reduce the excise, they can but they do not want to.

I agree - a lighthearted and lightweight program where the shriller the voice the more you get heard. This is despite some reasonably good questions from the audience at times.

I prefer Difference of Opinion where a group of experts are brought together to discuss a particular topic. They won't change the world either, but at least they were looking to understand what was causing problems and then looking for possible solutions.

dovif1,

You completely miss the point. The Government can certainly reduce the price of petrol, but this is what will happen if they do.

1. The price of petrol will go up anyway, because the marketplace is a very dynamic and fluid environment, and the companies will just fill the price hole as I mentioned earlier. The consumer won’t, in the final analysis, be much, if any, better off.
2. The Government, by slashing its excise, will effectively give the benefit straight to the oil companies. No one else. The flow-on effect of that is the Government will have less money to act as a bulwark to protect society from the forces of the market. If the Government makes too many decisions like this, it will become weakened, the market influence will become greater, and ordinary people will lose out even more.

I would agree with the premise that it isn’t fair the Government is slugging ordinary motorists at the bowser. But, in this case, the alternative is far worse.

Rob P

At one stage petrol prices were $1.20, under your arguement, there was nothing to stop the petrol companies charging $1.60 at that point in time to increase their profit under your argument.

The problem with that would be
a. ACCC will look for price collusion and fine the Petrol company
b. Since petrol companies are publicly listed companies, people will see their profit, if they report too large profits, the government is likely to re-regulate the industry
c. Independant operators might find it cheaper to import petrol from overseas and under cut Australian Petrol companies
d. Seeing the excess profits, overseas petrol companies might comes into the Australian market and take market shares from local operators

Under your arguement, there is nothing stopping the petrol companies from making petrol $2 now! But the facts are, there will be consequences if they do.

If the government drop the Excise and GST, prices of petrol will indeed drop by the 40c. It is simple regulation (no collusion) and supply and demand. If there is excessive profit in an industry, new entrants will force down the petrol prices eventually

Your argument does not hold any water

*I want to hear what plans there are to reduce our dependence on fuel complete with time lines and money to start work.*

Don't worry, its already happening out there, although less so
in Australia. American venture capital, MV manufacturers and others
are all rushing towards the plug-in. Production models should
be around by 2010.

http://blog.wired.com/cars/2008/06/uncle-sam-rolls.html

discusses part of it, although last weeks Economist carried a
16 page feature on energy and the smart money is on plug-ins.

What has caught everyone on the hop, is the rapid speed of oil
price increases. Don't forget that in the late 90s, oil was
still around 10$ a barrel, so nobody bothered to invest or do
the research. This peak in oil has made everyone sit up and take
notice.

These things just take a bit of time, that does not mean that
lots is not happening, for it is.