Matters of Urgency — Fuel

Richard Colbeck

The Senate will now consider the proposal from Senator McKenzie, which is shown at item 12 on today's Order of Business:

The Albanese Government's failure to manage fuel supply and distribution, resulting in fuel shortages and service stations running out of fuel, adding to the cost of living pressures already being faced by Australian families and small businesses.

Is the consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements by the whips.

Bridget McKenzie

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The Albanese Government's failure to manage fuel supply and distribution, resulting in fuel shortages and service stations running out of fuel, adding to the cost of living pressures already being faced by Australian families and small businesses.

If ever you had an example of incompetence from a federal government, you have it right now from the Labor Party here in Canberra. We're heading into what will be the fourth week of a crisis in the Middle East. The failure to prepare, the failure to act in those very first days and weeks, means that Australians who are already saddled with real wages going backwards and mortgage rates going through the roof because the government can't get their spending profile under control and because of the weak economic settings from Jim Chalmers and the cabinet led by Anthony Albanese—Australians are already subjected to cost-of-living pressures that are unprecedented. On top of that, we are unable to respond appropriately to events, dear boy, events, and to issues that are of a global consequence and the geostrategic challenges we are seeing from the war in the Middle East.

What was this chamber told? What were Australians told in the first two weeks? 'We have all the supply you need. Stop panicking. Stop behaving like rational human beings. When you know something is going to be in short supply—something that you need to function as a family, a farmer, a fisherman or a truckie—don't rush out and buy it.' Of course they rushed out and bought it.

The minister stood up here day after day on questions from the National Party and the Liberal Party about what they are doing to help Australians through the crisis. We were told there was nothing to worry about. What did they do? Jim Chalmers wrote a letter to the ACCC. Chris Bowen, who's supposed to be the minister in charge, can't tell us where the supply gaps even are. They're relying on Facebook and frustrated Australians calling in when there is no diesel or no petrol and when service stations are shut.

What's going to happen? It's not just that prices have gone through the roof and that families are struggling with the cost of living. It is that farmers are unable to plant and unable to harvest. Fishermen are not going in. Banana crops are going to be ploughed into the ground because it is more expensive to get them on the back of a truck to Woollies and Coles distribution centres in Brisbane than it is to let them fall and rot on the ground. The trucking industry has pleaded with the government to do something. They're already operating on thin margins. They're having to pass through the largest cost increases in diesel they have ever seen. Even during the Ukraine war, diesel only increased 40c a litre. We have seen it up 80c a litre, and it's climbing. Australians are rightfully concerned.

And what do we know this government hasn't done? The minister refuses to use the powers available to him to intervene in the market and make sure much needed fuel gets to where it's needed to keep trucks on the road, primary producers producing and our mining and fishing industries doing what they keep doing. They've stalled their commitment to biofuels and ethanol production, something which could have actually assisted with increasing supply. We have two states that already have a commitment to putting ethanol into the fuel supply system. We could increase the supply of clean fuel into our transport industry instead of rushing, as the minister has, to actually ensure dirty fuel is available.

And didn't they make a big song and dance about the 100 million litres of fuel being available? That sounded like a big number to Australians. However, we need 135.6 million litres of fuel to operate in this country every single day. The government's not doing enough and Australians deserve better.

Corinne Mulholland

In my home state of Queensland the car is king, especially in regional Queensland. Farmers, freight operators, Queensland families—they don't have the luxury of alternatives like public transport. They rely on their cars, their trucks and their trailers every single day. And we know Australia's food security is directly tied to our transport security and our regional security, so concerns about fuel supply are being fanned by an increasingly desperate opposition.

Let's be clear: this motion from Senator McKenzie is not about Australians. It is about Senator McKenzie trying to save herself and her party from One Nation. But trying to out-Pauline Pauline is about the dumbest political strategy I've seen since the 'Joh for PM' campaign.

Slade Brockman

Order. Senator Mulholland, I just remind you to refer to those in this chamber by their correct title. You can continue.

Corinne Mulholland

Thank you. And we've just seen the coalition forces annihilated in South Australia. Nothing says insanity like flirting with the party that is actively eating your base—it's like feeding a crocodile and hoping it doesn't bite your hand off—while doing nothing to address the policy challenges that confront us.

It's important for Australians to understand that Australia is well prepared for the challenges of the conflict in the Middle East and our fuel supply is secure. The Albanese government is looking at every practical measure to shield our nation and household budgets from the worst of global insecurity. Since the conflict commenced three weeks ago the Commonwealth government has taken swift action to support supply and keep fuel moving around the country. That includes releasing up to 20 per cent of our diesel and fuel reserves to help address regional shortages. We have amended national fuel standards to keep more Australian made fuels onshore where they are needed most. We are cracking down on petrol company price gouging because we will not allow Australians to be taken advantage of during these periods of global uncertainty.

And to strengthen coordination across the country, the Albanese government has appointed the Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator. This is a new and necessary role with shortages in specific areas due to increased demand in some locations and further supply chain pressures expected in the weeks and months ahead. This task force will lead the coordination work needed to ensure the best outcomes for Australians and Australian businesses.

But let's compare this to the actions or the absolute inaction of those opposite. Opposition leader Angus Taylor should be, and will be, remembered as the worst energy minister in Australian history. Under Angus Taylor's watch, half of Australia's remaining refineries closed. He left Australia more exposed to global shocks than at any time in modern history, and now the coalition has the audacity to come in here and lecture us about fuel supply when it was their decisions that hollowed out our sovereign fuel capacity in the first place.

I'm proud to say that Queensland is home to one of Australia's two remaining oil refineries—one of only two that survived the Liberals last time they were in office—and that is the Ampol refinery in Lytton, in the mighty seat of Bonner in Brisbane. There are more than 550 refinery workers at Ampol, producing petrol, diesel and jet fuel in Queensland. Behind every bowser filling up our cars, our trucks and our machinery, there is a Queensland Ampol worker who has been working around the clock to keep up with current peaks in demand, and they are ably supported by our Queensland transport workers, who have been delivering tanker after tanker right up and down the eastern seaboard. Queensland's oil refinery workers and transport workers don't always get the recognition they deserve, but right now their work is critical to keeping sovereign oil production steady during this period of peak demand.

So I want to give a shout-out to the mighty Australian Workers' Union, which proudly represents the workers of Ampol, because it is the AWU that has worked hard to defend the fuel industry against sustained attacks and the oil refinery closures that occurred under the coalition. The AWU and this side of politics have been vocal about the need to ensure that we keep an oil refinery operating in this country. So you can imagine my surprise when we've seen a conga line of coalition MPs and senators lining up to attack this industry in recent weeks—the same people who said nothing when the refineries were shut. They didn't blink an eye when refineries were shut at Kurnell in New South Wales, Bulwer Island in Queensland, Altona in Victoria and Kwinana in WA. It was the AWU who came to Canberra back in 2020 to save our refinery in Lytton. We should never forget that.

Matt O'Sullivan

Senator Mulholland, I just remind you—there were a couple of occasions there where you didn't refer to those in the other place, or this place, with the correct title. So could you, next time, make sure you do that.

Nick McKim

Well, cop a load of the war parties in this place—the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Nationals and One Nation. Cop a load of that unholy alliance wringing their hands about increased fuel prices, including petrol prices, in this country. The hypocrisy is enough to make me vomit. They cheerled a war with Iran, and now, of course, entirely predictably, fuel prices are going up. Colour me surprised! Who could possibly have foreseen that, if you start a big war in the Middle East, petrol prices are going to go up and people are going to feel pain at the bowser?

You cannot support this war and cry crocodile tears about fuel prices. Australians are paying the price for the Labor Party cheerleading this war on day one, when our prime minister was the first global leader to go out and say he thought this war was a good idea. Then, a week later, he joined this country to the war effort against Iran. With every global conflict and every supply shock, Australians are paying for it and the big corporations are fattening their bottom line, all because of the war parties in this place—the Labor Party, the Liberal Party, the Nationals and One Nation. If you want to do something on petrol prices, oppose the war. Call for peace. Stop fighting fantasy crusades with Hegseth, Trump and the war criminal Netanyahu. Oppose the war. Stand for peace.

Long debate text truncated.