The CLP’s self-celebrated fuel price disclosure bill that would force petrol companies to disclose their profits was not debated in Parliament Wednesday after the party attempted to manipulate general business orders and had it explode in their face.

Treasurer Eva Lawler hit out at the Opposition in Question Time for their blunder, saying the CLP had three months to produce the bill for debate but had once again failed to follow proper procedures.

“I’m hoping that by Christmas, we might actually have a bill debated because I want to know when will it get done?” she said.

“I’ve got my speech ready. We do want to be able to debate this bill, but what we’ve seen is one bill in three months that the CLP could not even introduce.”

The Opposition had either removed the bill or had it reordered from General Business orders of the day, then later attempted to get the fuel price bill debated after Question Time by suspending standing orders and adding it back in, but that was shot down by Labor.

The parliamentary tactic was questionable and only had the effect of preventing the bill from being debated today.

Ms Lawler said when she and others had met with the CLP to discuss the bill, it was clear they had not consulted with the appropriate stakeholders.

“We asked who she’d consulted with, she said ‘I hadn’t consulted with the ACCC, I hadn’t consulted with AANT, hadn’t consulted with a fuel retailer’,” Ms Lawler said.

“The first question she always asks us in consideration in detail is, ‘who did you consult with’? So of course … I expected to be able to write with my pen at least 10 people that she’d consulted with. One bill, one bill only, [and they] have not consulted with anybody about that.”

She added that industry was against the bill because it was “anti-business and anti-competitive”.

The bill, which is similar to one introduced by the former CLP government in 2014, would force fuel retailers to disclose their prices in an attempt to reveal if price gouging was occurring.

CLP Leader Lia Finocchiaro said the party had been working on “solutions to excessive fuel prices for a long time” and claimed that Labor had “backflipped” on its pledge to debate the bill when it wouldn’t let them put it up after Question Time.

“Minister after minister came out in question time, spruiking about how much they wanted to debate the bill, thinking that it couldn’t be brought on,” she said.

“But when it was in fact brought on and they were given the opportunity, Labor put their tail between their legs and ran for cover.

“We wouldn’t have cared if they bought forward amendments to make this legislation better, but they haven’t even done that – they’ve done nothing.”

It’s understood the bill may come back to Parliament for debate in November at the next sittings.