CHAIR—Thank you, Minister. I will make Senator Brandis aware of that as soon as I can, Minister. Senator Joyce, you have some questions.
Senator JOYCE—As you are aware, the Prime Minister on 22 September 2005 stated that the government would demonstrate its confidence in ethanol blended fuel by encouraging users of Commonwealth vehicles to purchase E10 where possible. Following up my colleague Senator Boswell’s strong concern about this matter, to make sure that the government takes a lead in dispelling this myth that E10 is somehow damaging to vehicles and to show that we have complete confidence by putting it in our fleet of basically new cars, can you tell me, so I can relay it to Senator Boswell, where we are with this?
Dr Watt—We can do that.
Mr Hutson—Senator, we have the Commonwealth Fleet Monitoring Body within the Corporate Group which is responsible for promoting the government’s policy regarding the use of ethanol blended fuel in Commonwealth vehicles. Subsequent to the announcement by the Prime Minister, we have taken a number of actions to promote the use of E10 across the Commonwealth fleet, including a series of email advices to the 84 affected agencies concerning issues concerning the national availability of E10 and the supplier and fuel card arrangements to make E10 purchase as easy as possible, and also detailing a series of frequently asked questions and answers.
The secretary has also written to each department and agency head informing them of the government’s E10 policy and that the government will demonstrate its confidence in ethanol blended fuel by encouraging users of Commonwealth vehicles to use E10 where possible. We have had a series of one-on-one meetings with the major fleet agencies regarding the E10 issue. There has been a series of articles in Finance, lease plan and Special Minister of State publications creating an awareness and promoting the policy, and we have put E10 information on Finance’s website under the Fleet Monitoring Body. In addition to this, Senator Abetz issued Parliamentary circular 2005/36 about E10 to senators and members and to senior parliamentary staffers informing them of the policy.
In terms of the use of E10, availability continues to be the main impediment. There are 6,500 petrol stations in Australia and 230 of those have E10 available. Availability in Canberra is not bad: there are three BP and one United Petroleum stations which have E10 available.
Senator JOYCE—What percentage of our fuel now in Commonwealth petrol-driven vehicles is E10?
Mr Hutson—Since the government’s announcement in September that number has risen dramatically. In October 2005 sales of E10 to departments and agencies was 2,270 litres or about 0.2 per cent. If I come forward to March 2006—I also have April figures but for some reason they peaked in March—it was 62,537 litres or 4.6 per cent of Commonwealth consumption.
Senator JOYCE—So 4.6 per cent of our total sales was E10.
Mr Hutson—They are the 2006 figures.
Senator JOYCE—How can we get that up to 100 per cent?
Mr Hutson—The major impediment at the moment is availability. There are three BP stations and one United Petroleum outlet in Canberra that use the fuel. There are some states, I understand, where E10 is not available at all.
Senator JOYCE—Have we contacted the oil companies to ask why they don’t have a greater availability of E10?
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Mr Hutson—I am not aware of our dealings with the oil companies on this issue but it is an industry-wide issue rather than simply a Commonwealth government fleet issue.
Senator JOYCE—In Canberra we just have three BP and one United with E10?
Mr Hutson—That is all we have in Canberra.
Dr Watt—What we have done, for example, is to work with United, which has E10 and which also has somewhat of a broader presence beyond Canberra, and we have allowed our clients or our customers or owners to use their fuel cards so they can use E10 from that source. That is the sort of thing we can do at the fleet level.
Senator JOYCE—Have we contacted the oil companies saying, ‘We have a direct policy of using E10 and we would like you to pick up your game on this’?
Dr Watt—That is really one for the Department of Industry, Tourism and Resources. What we do is try to make sure that our people have access to those oil company firms that have E10 service stations.
Senator JOYCE—So where do the cars that are parked out front here fuel up?
Dr Watt—That is a question that I will have to get someone else to answer.
Senator Minchin—You are talking about Comcar?
Senator JOYCE—Yes.
Ms Mason—I assume that you are referring to Comcar vehicles on the parliamentary shuttle. Comcar vehicles, like the broader Commonwealth vehicles referred to by Mr Hutson, are able to use E10, and do, though not universally. We are able to use the outlets that Mr Hutson mentioned in Canberra, and in other locations we are also using E10. But what we will not do, for instance, is drive from one side of Sydney to the other to get E10. We would use an outlet that is close by.
Senator JOYCE—Take Canberra, for instance. We have got four outlets in Canberra that use E10—and I think that it is pathetic on behalf of the oil companies. Do we fill up these Comcars here in Canberra at those E10 outlets so that the other ones get the idea that if they do not provide E10 they are not going to get our business?
Ms Mason—Senator, Comcar in Canberra is certainly using E10 but not universally so.
Senator JOYCE—Can we move down in that direction, saying: ‘If you do not provide E10 we are not going to do business with you. We will go to the service station that provides it’?
Ms Mason—Mr Sweeney may be able to assist you with that question.
Mr Sweeney—Sorry, Senator, I missed that question.
Senator JOYCE—It seems we are at 4.6 per cent, and that is admirable, but 100 per cent is where we want to end up. We have got four outlets in Canberra and I think a great way to suggest to them that they should be providing E10 is to go only to those outlets for fuel. Can we have a policy of saying, ‘If you do not provide E10, that is fine, but you will not be getting our business’?
Mr Sweeney—I can say at the outset that we have a policy of using E10 where it is available and where it is economically viable to use it—by that I mean efficiently. As Ms Mason said in answer to an earlier question, we would not drive from one side of Sydney to another to fill up. But in Canberra there are two United outlets and two BP outlets and, yes, we use them when that is on our radius of operation.
Senator JOYCE—So they are close. The only way to encourage the oil companies to do that is to say, ‘You’re not going to get our business unless you do.’ What percentage of our fuel in the Comcars would be E10? You might want to take that on notice.