Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

How refreshing it is to hear Labor talking about productivity and agriculture! Farmers know very well about supply and demand, but, unfortunately, Labor doesn't. Energy Minister Chris Bowen claims there's no fuel supply issue, but we now know six supply ships have been cancelled or delayed so far. In Mallee, fuel is running out. Farmers can't sow the seed, spray the weeds, dry out their wet crops after unseasonal rain or harvest without diesel. If farmers don't plant a crop, or lose a crop, or lose yields, or are downgraded on quality because they don't have fuel, guess what? The export returns that the member for Paterson talks about will simply evaporate.

Labor doesn't understand supply or demand and certainly doesn't understand regional Australia. The former coalition government bolstered diesel supplies by increasing our storages by 40 per cent when we were in government. Great farmgate returns are one thing, but huge spikes in input costs are another. One of my Mallee constituents saw fuel prices at his local bowser go up 10c per day.

Fertiliser is another major input cost, and the conflict blocking the Strait of Hormuz is impacting around two-thirds of Australia's annual urea imports. Prices have gone up from around $840 per tonne to about $1,400 per tonne, higher than the spike we experienced when Russia invaded Ukraine. The coalition understand urea supply, which is why we funded the Perdaman urea project—through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility—which we gave major project status. Perdaman will produce around two million tonnes per year of urea, starting in less than a year's time—2027—and estimated to reach full production in June 2027. You're welcome.

One million tonnes of that output, about half, has been earmarked for the Australian market, which would meet about 96 per cent of our total domestic demand, with Incitec Pivot—through Macquarie Group—to manage all of the offtake from that project. The coalition supported Perdaman through the NAIF and the Export Finance Authority. Some $744 million in support has been provided for the $6 billion Perdaman project, largely through NAIF loans, to support the ports and water supply elements that Perdaman needs to be successful.

Through the NAIF, the former coalition government also funded the Water Corporation's seawater scheme to the tune of $95 million, to underpin the industrial precinct in the area—including Yara Pilbara, which I visited in my former capacity as shadow minister for regional development in October.

One million tonnes per annum of urea, meeting almost all of our demand—that's what the Nationals, as a party of government in coalition, deliver for regional Australia and for our productivity into the future. We have a fuel supply and price emergency in Australia, particularly in regional Australia right now. Without fuel, Australian farmers won't produce the food we need. The last things we need during Labor's homegrown cost-of-living crisis are fuel and food price spikes that further reduce the value of Australian wages. Australians deserve better than this Labor government.

See this speech in context