Senator Joyce said today the removal of ethanol grants is completely counterintuitive to the cause of trying to assist working families by lowering the price of fuel.

“Australia has to find an alternate product to oil based fuel if there is to be any hope of placing downward pressure on the price of fuel. The price of oil has increased 61% over the last 12 months, from approximately US$75/barrel to approximately US$120/barrel, which is a record high. The price of sugar, which can be used to produce ethanol, has increased in the last 12 months to approximately US$0.13/lb, but this is a far cry from the record high in 1974-1975 of approximately US$0.33/lb or the price in 1980-1981 of approximately US$0.22/lb. The current price of sugar which is used in great quantities to produce ethanol overseas debunks the myth of a fuel-food crisis for sugar. In fact, many sugar growers would wish for a bit more of a crisis to get them a better price

“There are so many other technologies around today, for instance lignocellulose transfer, which works in combination with food production rather than to the exclusion of food production. After a crop is harvested the ethanol can be produced from the trash or stubble that would otherwise be leftover in the paddock.

“Australia has to be at the forefront of these technologies if we want to be a beneficiary in the future of the wealth that will be provided by them. For the Labor party to remove the current ethanol grants is to act as if there is no crisis in the price of fuel. However, this crisis is tearing apart the budgets of working families and Labor appears oblivious to the problem and too scared to make a substantial move towards dealing with the problem.

“A FuelWatch, but don’t touch, Scheme that merely describes the self evident escalation in fuel prices, does not in anyway produce further product for further supply to push prices down. For the record, sugar based ethanol production provides a price per litre for E85 fuel in Brazil of AUD$0.77 whereas the price of fuel in the western suburbs of Sydney is AUD$1.50/litre and AUD$1.45/litre in the western suburbs of Brisbane. The Labor party has to decide what price they want Australian working families to pay.”

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