Shadow Portfolio — 26 March 2026

The Member for Groom, Mr Hamilton, used the second reading debate on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill to mount a dual attack: one on the substance of the government's response to a regional fuel supply crisis, and one on its handling of parliamentary process [TA-260326-house-acd3ee5310f1:s020].

On substance, Mr Hamilton described petrol stations running dry in Dalby and Wyreema, the closure of two stations in Toowoomba, and direct hardship for farmers and families unable to absorb additional fuel costs [TA-260326-house-acd3ee5310f1:s020]. He argued the government initially denied a supply crisis existed and that the Minister for Climate Change and Energy acknowledged the problem only after Opposition pressure late in the prior sitting week — framing the government's response as reactive and belated.

The Opposition's position is that the ACCC enforcement bill, which the government had publicly committed to but sat on for two weeks, is the appropriate instrument to deter price-gouging during supply shortages.

On process, Mr Hamilton's sharper attack targeted the government's introduction of the Fair Work Amendment (Fairer Fuel) Bill on the same morning, with only seven minutes of ministerial description and no prior parliamentary debate [TA-260326-house-acd3ee5310f1:s020]. He contended the government deliberately bundled the Fair Work amendment alongside the ACCC bill to deny the Opposition the opportunity to scrutinise the former through normal procedure, characterising this as a breach of parliamentary convention.

The Opposition's stated position is that both bills must be debated separately and in proper sequence [TA-260326-house-acd3ee5310f1:s020].

The strategic coherence of the intervention is notable: Mr Hamilton linked a concrete regional impact story — fuel shortages in his own electorate — directly to the government's procedural conduct, arguing that the very bill designed to protect consumers from price-gouging during a crisis was being obscured by the manner of its introduction. The attack runs on two tracks simultaneously: policy urgency (the crisis demands action the government delayed) and democratic accountability (the government is avoiding scrutiny of related legislation by attaching it to an already-committed bill).

No comms-segment material was present for this note window, so the parliamentary debate stands alone as the day's Opposition activity on record.