FORTY cents in a weekly fuel bill of $110 or more might not seem worth complaining about, but for many motorists Prime Minister Abbott’s fuel excise hike is just more evidence of his breach of faith.
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His announcement that fuel excise would increase by half a cent per litre every six months quickly turns 40 cents into 80 cents for an “average motorist” even before the Parliament gets to have its say on what is a tax increase by stealth.
Not that the Abbott government is the first to use federal excise to impose a tax increase the Parliament had not passed.
The previous Labor government used the same tactic to increase the excise on alcopops marketed at young drinkers.
The Federal Parliament later ratified that decision.
It is not the worst sin a government can commit, however it does yet more damage to a government struggling to pass legislation it promised the electorate it would never introduce.
This Abbott decision comes months after a cigar-smoking Joe Hockey dug himself a hole when he tried to downplay the impact of fuel tax increases on low income earners by saying the poor didn’t drive much!
The silence in the ranks of most National MPs then is only matched by their acquiescence now.
But much more important than this about-face on policy is the fact that it came almost in the same breath as Mr Abbott inviting Australians to have a mature debate about the GST and federalism.
A banal appeal to join “Team Australia” - a cliche borrowed from “Team GB” and the London Olympics - is hardly the stuff of a mature debate.
It will not ring true with an electorate still trying to digest plans to charge $7 for a GP visit, to deregulate university fees and whack up the interest rate on student loans.
The fuel excise increase could prove far more costly for the Abbott government than for motorists.