Fuel

Michaelia Cash

I seek leave to move a motion relating to the need for the Albanese Labor government to provide urgent relief to Australians facing surging fuel prices, as circulated.

Leave not granted.

Pursuant to contingent notice standing in my name, I move:

That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent me moving a motion to provide for the consideration of a matter, namely a motion to give precedence to a motion relating to the need for the Albanese Labor government to provide urgent relief to Australians facing surging fuel prices.

Quite frankly, I don't know how much more urgent it can actually get before the Albanese government sits up, takes notice, admits to the Australian people that we are in the middle of a fuel crisis of their own making and, more than that, acknowledges what Australians are now experiencing on a daily basis. They are pulling up at the bowser, and guess what? If they can get fuel, they are now paying exorbitant prices in excess of $3 a litre. Many are pulling up at the bowser, only to find that the servo has actually run out of fuel. You've got small businesses saying, 'We can't open our doors because of the fuel cost.' You've also got the restaurant industry now saying to its own restaurants, 'You need to impose a five per cent levy on your customers so that you can keep your doors open.' You've got the Easter break coming up, and what do we have? Caravan park after caravan park after holiday park saying, 'We have had cancellation after cancellation.' Guess what? Once you lose those bookings, you do not get them back.

What does the Albanese government do? It continues to say: 'We're having a meeting. We know that Australians are feeling pain, yes, but I have to say,' to quote Senator Ayres, 'it's nothing more than right-wing extremist scaremongering.' Say that to the Australian who is literally now having to make the decision and say: 'Do I go to work today? No, I can't. Not because I don't want to, but because I can't afford the fuel.' Say that to the small business who has to say: 'You know we're going to lay off staff today. Do you know why? Because my overheads have now increased.' What about what the waste management industry across Australia said? They made it very, very clear to the Albanese government: 'Guess what! We're actually important. If the bins don't get emptied, do you know what happens within 48 hours across the aged-care industry and our healthcare industry? Disease runs rampant.' They actually said, 'This is potentially catastrophic.' Do you know what we called on the Albanese government to do last week on behalf of the waste management industry? We asked for them to be placed immediately on the fuel priority list. Guess what? Crickets, yet again. But the good news is that the Albanese government is having a meeting!

This is a suspension motion. There is a reason that we have moved this motion this morning. It's because this motion should take precedence over all other government business. Why? Because we are in the middle of a fuel crisis. For five weeks now, the Albanese government has had its head in the sand. They have failed to recognise what Australians see when they go to that bowser. Australians look at the price and wonder, 'Can I even afford to fill up, given that the next place I'm going to is the shop and my groceries are now more expensive?' I don't think that the Albanese government understands. The crisis itself is now threatening fuel security, and do you know what happens when fuel security in Australia is threatened? The consequences spread quickly.

This is a government that hasn't just been on the back foot since day one; it has actively had its head in the sand. It's not just the motorists who feel it. It's not just the freight operators. It's the essential services. Rubbish collection is actually important. In particular, you have the health industry and the aged-care industry saying: 'If our rubbish is not collected, this is catastrophic. It takes about 48 hours for germs, disease et cetera to spread through our industry.' That affects people's health. What about the NDIS operators at the moment? They are saying: 'I don't have the money to fuel my car. Do you know what happens if I don't have the money to fuel my car? I cannot go to work.' And do you know what not going to work means? It means that the NDIS recipient, the patient, is not getting the level of care that they need.

We have said to the Prime Minister, 'We will work with you as the opposition.' Bring in the legislation today. In fact, you can do it as soon as we suspend the standing orders. You can axe the fuel tax and give motorists, mum-and-dad Australia but also businesses the relief they need now at the bowser. But more than that, you keep on telling us, 'The supply is in Australia.' Get the fuel moving to where it needs to be. Axe the tax. Move the fuel.

Katy Gallagher

The government won't be supporting the suspension of standing orders, and I acknowledge the wide-ranging contribution on the topic more broadly.

I completely reject the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate's assertion around the government and the government's response. We have been continuously responding to the situation as it unfolds as a consequence of a conflict in the Middle East and the impact that that's having both here on fuel prices at home and in putting pressure on industries, including farmers and small business. The government has responded and will continue to respond. The criticism of the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate around a meeting of National Cabinet—it is appropriate that the National Cabinet meet today. It is an important meeting, bringing together the states and territories and the Prime Minister to discuss fuel supply and distribution, as it impacts every community around Australia.

Since the conflict has started, the government has convened National Cabinet today but also previously. We've passed new laws to double penalties for petrol companies for false or misleading conduct and cartel behaviour. We've begun the release of 20 per cent of Australia's fuel reserves. We've changed petrol standards to get more fuel flowing. We've changed diesel standards so Australia's refineries can supply more diesel. We've appointed a national Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator. We've tasked the ACCC with ramping up fuel price monitoring and issuing on-the-spot fines. We've made it easier for Australia's refineries to access government funding when they run at a loss.

We've engaged with international partners to keep supply flowing. We've engaged with the states and territories on supply and distribution, including holding a special energy ministers meeting; activated the National Coordination Mechanism, which has met twice; and unlocked funding for financial counselling for impacted farmers. We also, as senators would know, will introduce new legislation today to give the government new trading powers to ensure the continued supply of fuel in Australia. And there is legislation on the program today—which we should be at now, had it not been for this suspension—on the Fair Work Amendment (Fairer Fuel) Bill 2026. In addition to that, and in consultation with the opposition, there is a bill on increasing the advance to the finance minister.

In short, we have done all of that, responding to the unfolding situation. We understand how hard this is on motorists, on business and on various industries that are directly affected by the outcomes of the conflict in the Middle East, and this government will continue to respond. This is an orderly government that works through what the right response is. We take advice and we make decisions, and we will continue to do that. The list of decisions and outcomes that I just took the Senate through clearly indicate how much work has been done. But that work continues as the situation unfolds, in similar circumstances to what those opposite did when they were in government when the pandemic hit. It was a matter of taking decisions that responded to the circumstances at the time. Those decisions were not all done in a finite period of time.

We have taken a number of decisions to shore up supply and make sure that supply is getting to Australia. That is critical. That is the priority of the government, and it will continue to be. How that gets distributed to make sure it's getting to those places where we've seen disruption in the last few weeks is also a priority. And we understand cost is an issue. I mean, anyone who fills their car up is feeling this, and the government understands that. We need to work with the states and territories on their response to this. The Commonwealth stands ready to work with them. This is having a serious economic impact on individual households and on businesses, and this government stands with them to make sure we are doing everything we can.

Ministers are working in their portfolios to make sure they are responding appropriately—meeting with stakeholders, which they are doing constantly, including over the weekend and at night. This is an unfolding situation—

Well, you can scoff. We are working hard to ensure that our response is appropriate and fits the circumstances of the time. (Time expired)

Bridget McKenzie

It gives me great pleasure, as the shadow transport minister and also as the Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, to support Senator Cash's call that this chamber be suspended and that the government give fuel relief to Australians right now. We do not need to have legislation. The minister, with the stroke of a pen, could cut the fuel excise right now and make changes to the road user charge so that our trucking industry could get the relief they are desperately seeking. Whilst the government stands up and talks a big empathetic game—the language: so empathetic; you'd think butter wouldn't melt in their mouth—we are heading into the fifth week of this crisis. And only now are we seeing a plan for a meeting today to come up with a plan on how to actually help our nation get through this crisis.

We are at the end of the global supply chain, so at the start of crises you do not feel the impact. But, as the war drags on, it is our communities that are impacted. We are the most heavily reliant country in the world when it comes to diesel. It's not just our agricultural industry, as Senator McDonald knows; it is our miners—the industries that pay the bills, that pay for Medicare, that pay for politicians, that pay for our roads. Mining and agriculture rely on diesel supplies. And this government is wringing its hands. In the first week of the crisis, what did they do? They blamed Australians: 'Stop getting concerned. We've got it under control'—we've got no plan but we've got it under control. In the second week of the crisis: 'It's the states. What are the states doing?'

Every single day, this government has the powers available to it to make sure the limited supply of fuel that we have gets to where it's needed. Yet Minister Bowen is afraid to use the powers this parliament has given him. We see them, time and time again, coming in here, wringing hands, attacking everyone else and refusing to take responsibility for the great privilege of being the government of this great country, which also comes with great responsibility—and you'd better use it when the crisis comes. You're not always going to get it right, but the very worst thing you can do is do nothing. You have to admit that your own policies have meant we're weaker going into this crisis. Businesses have been going offshore. Meanwhile, you've nailed them on industrial relations and you've nailed them on environmental approvals, so—

Michaelia Cash

Energy.

Bridget McKenzie

Energy policy—you've kept clinging to net zero like a life raft for your EU trade agreement. Well, how is that going to help us when we have no sovereignty over our own fuel? We need to be looking at the business going offshore and why we haven't been getting new oil and gas projects up and running and ensuring that our country is better prepared.

You heard the minister then talk about the ACCC powers: 'They can hand out higher bills.' The government did not change the ACCC's powers to actually make sure they can examine and investigate price gouging by big international oil companies, who are holding regional Australia and our agricultural industry, particularly, to ransom during this crisis. And, yes, we need families to have relief at the bowser right now, and that's something that should have already happened. And our trucking industry is desperate. This is what they've actually asked for. What are you giving them? You're allowing the TWU into the contractual arrangements for the trucking industry, but that's okay.

My inbox, like everyone's here, has been absolutely flooded with local businesses seeking relief. We've got a transport operator, a third-generation transport business—the viability of their business is threatened with the rapid increase of fuel prices and an immediate cash flow crisis. That's why the transport industry has also been asking the government about GST relief and about actually giving them what we gave them during COVID: six months of relief from lending arrangements with banking and other creditors.

It's a cash flow crisis. Truckies are parking their trucks and not filling them up, because they can't afford to. Declaring this the emergency that it is, instigating disaster-relief packages for our industries—that's exactly what the industry has been calling for. And, once again, this government has done nothing.

Long debate text truncated.