Two Libs To Vote Against Fuel Excise Rise

De CidesaWiki

Two Libs to vote against fuel excise rise
By Australian Associated Press

Published: 03:14 BST, 24 June 2015 | Updated: 03:14 BST, 24 June 2015














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Two Liberal senators will vote against the government over seo indexation (try what he says) of the fuel excise.

Cory Bernardi and Ian Macdonald oppose the twice-yearly rise which initially will cost the average motorist about 40 cents a week.

The government is fast-tracking legislation through parliament after Labor agreed to back the $3.6 billion revenue-raising measure on Tuesday.

seo indexation was reintroduced in November last year by regulation, bypassing the Senate where the 2014 budget measure would have been defeated.

The Greens argue the additional revenue should be pumped back into public transport.

Senator Macdonald said he was pained to vote the same way as the Greens but he feared the measure would disproportionately hurt regional and rural Australians.

"It's with some regret that I'll be voting against my own government," he told the Senate on Wednesday.

"But I do so in the furtherance of my long-held view that people who live in the country should not be disadvantaged any more than need be."

Senator Bernardi believes the government has called Labor's bluff by introducing the measure initially by regulation and promising $1.1 billion in funding for regional roads.

"I don't believe Australians should be paying more tax," he said.

A special fund will be set up for the $1 billion in roads funding.

Greens leader Richard Di Natale accused the government of bullying and blackmail by claiming the additional excise raised since November would go back to big oil companies if indexation had been rejected by parliament.

Treasurer Joe Hockey told reporters in Canberra Labor's about-face was down to it being "mugged by reality" about the need to repair the budget and "help us to fix the mess they created"