Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today's matter of public importance debate is about the government's failure on fuel prices and fuel distribution, moved by the member for Wannon, the Manager of Opposition Business. He comes from a regional electorate and he would, as I have and as many other regional members should, talk to his farmers, talk to his growers, who at the moment are at the start of sowing season. And it's not just farmers; it's also those wonderful truckies and trucking transport operators, many of them family owned, who are really desperately worried at the moment. They're not getting the answers they seek from the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, and they are desperately seeking solutions.

Now, one of those solutions would be to ensure that we have distribution and supply. It's all well and good for the minister to come to the dispatch box and talk and talk and talk, but it's another thing when the reality on the ground is that, out in regional Australia, they cannot get the supplies and the distribution that they so desperately need. One of those is Paul Lawton. He's got 12 trucks. He's running out of Gunning and he has operations in Young, Goulburn and Wagga Wagga as well. He is buying 236,000 litres every fortnight. That's a lot of fuel. The last time he fuelled up, it was $1.60 a litre for diesel. Next time he fears it will be $2.60 per litre, and he is very concerned. He employs 15 locals. His wife, Kristen, and his mother, Marilyn, are part of this family owned business. But he is desperately worried about supply, and he is just one person—the face, if you like, of the concern in regional Australia.

At 5.13 pm on Sunday, I went to fill up to come to Canberra. There was the sleeve on the diesel bowser—'temporarily out of order'—at the petrol station I usually fuel up at on Lake Albert Road in Wagga Wagga. I didn't fill up, because obviously there was no diesel available. So I got home and phoned up, and they said, 'We're right; it's all good.' As I returned there the red Ron Finemore Transport tanker had just finished fuelling up. That's all well and good. That supply would have run out, and I would urge and encourage people not to panic buy. I would urge and encourage people to use the NRMA Fuel Finder app to find the cheapest fuel.

But there is a concern out there about distribution. There is a concern about supply, and the government has to explain better what it is doing to allay those concerns in regional Australia, particularly for the growers who are about to embark on sowing season. If they can't get the fuel from their distributors, they can't grow the food. And if they can't grow the food, the price is going to go up and up and up. That will produce all sorts of issues. Even if trucks could get to the supermarkets at the moment, they're not going to have any food to distribute to supermarkets, and it will be a problem in and of itself that will manifest in higher prices at the checkout. Of course, people are already facing higher prices at the bowser, and the issue is supply. The issue is distribution. If these trucking companies cannot get the fuel, then the nation stops, because trucking companies run this nation. Without them, the nation grinds to a halt.

The minister is not giving convincing enough answers as to what he's doing. The ACCC needs to be involved. Our distribution companies need to be involved. It's all well and good for the minister to say his door is always open, but we've heard from the member for Wannon that it is not. Please, Minister, be truthful. Come clean about what the government is doing about this critical issue, because if our trucking companies can't get the supply—if they can't get the distribution—then this nation will be in awful strife. Our farmers, who are at the moment embarking on sowing season, will be in all sorts of trouble. We don't need higher prices; we just need answers. We need them from the minister. He's the one in charge. Where is he on this?

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