Henry Pike (Bowman, Liberal National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Hansard source

I spoke to locals in my electorate over the course of the weekend, and there were two issues that they raised consistently with me. The first was the cost of fuel at the bowser, and the second was concerns about what fuel supply constraints or disruptions will mean for the economy. The reason why locals were concerned about this is that they simply can't take another shock. They are already working harder than they ever have, they've already witnessed the largest fall in living standards across the OECD and they've already seen inflation higher than any other advanced economy. Today, we heard from the Minister for Climate Change and Energy declaring that he's convening a roundtable this afternoon and that there's nothing to worry about on energy security. To me, that's not good enough.

The fact is Australia is a diesel economy, and without diesel we will come to a standstill. When last in government, the coalition legislated the Petroleum and Other Fuels Reporting Act 2017, established the domestic fuel reserve through a minimum stockholding obligation and legislated the Fuel Security Act 2021. The issue today is not whether the government has the tools to deal with this crisis. The question is whether they have the judgement to use them. The buck stops with the energy minister. The buck stops with the Prime Minister. Australians deserve a real explanation—not a 'she'll be right, mate' sort of attitude—on the government's strategy to maintain adequate fuel supplies in this country.

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