Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

While we're on the topic of jerry cans, I'll tell the House a story about a dairy farmer I was speaking with last week who's in dire straits. He's a dairy farmer with a herd of about 800 cows, and he's got a regular fuel order for his farm. It wasn't being delivered, so he was making about six trips with his jerry can into town every day. Do you know what happens when you run out of fuel on a dairy farm? You can't feed your animals, and that invites really serious animal welfare concerns. This guy was seriously stressed to the max. This crisis is not just exhausting the fuel reserves and the financial reserves but exhausting the mental and emotional reserves of farming and regional communities like mine. They do not need a lecture right now. They need empathy, and they need action.

This is a tale about timing. Australian farmers have been hit at the worst possible moment, and this government is not helping. After years of dry conditions and uncertainty, many grain growers across southern Australia finally caught a break. Early autumn rain delivered what should have been the foundation of a strong winter cropping season. The soil has moisture, the paddocks are ready, and the opportunity is there. But, just as farmers move in to sow their crops, as the tractors roll and as the seed goes into the ground, they are being hit with a double blow that they cannot control—fuel shortages, fertiliser shortages, and, in some cases, no supply at all. Farmers are telling us plainly, 'We need fuel to plant the crop, we need fertiliser to feed the crop, and right now we can't be sure we'll have either.'

I am talking to farmers every second day who are having to make a choice between buying fertiliser and fuel, and the ramifications of either choice are profound and will be long term. It's not just a farming issue. It's a national risk because, if farmers cannot plant, Australia cannot produce. When Australia cannot produce, every Australian pays the price. In my electorate of Monash, this is not abstract. This is not a debate. This is not theoretical. This is real life, and it is having profound consequences every day. Farmers are paying through the roof for diesel, if they can get it, and incredibly they're dealing with fuel theft as well. I spoke to a number of farmers last week who have had holes drilled in their fuel tanks. I've got farmers sleeping on their property to guard what little supply they have left. Think about that—the people who grow our food are being forced to act as security guards in the middle of the night just to protect the fuel they need to do their job. The pressure is not just physical; it's mental and emotional because farmers are being forced into impossible decisions at the worst possible time. This government is not acting with urgency, understanding or empathy.

Do you plant the full crop and risk not having enough fuel to finish the job? Do you cut back on fertiliser and risk your yield? Do you delay and miss the window entirely? In agriculture, as the member, my good friend the member for Nicholls, knows well, timing is everything. You don't get a second chance at sowing. You don't get to press pause and come back later. If you miss the window, the opportunity is gone.

Global instability might be a factor, but the failure of this government to secure adequate fuel supply is making it worse, and that is a fact. It is a reality. It's exposing just how fragile our supply chains have become. It is leaving regional communities like Shepparton, Warragul and Leongatha in my electorate at the back of the queue, and it is pushing up the cost of living across the entire community. Fuel does not just power tractors. It powers freight, it powers production, and it powers the movement of every single good across this country. When fuel becomes scarce and expensive, guess what? Everything becomes more expensive. That cost flows through to Australian families on everyday products.

Grain is at the centre of this. Grain feeds livestock. Grain feeds supply chains. Grain feeds Australia. If crops do not go into the ground now, there will be less production later—less wheat, less feed and less supply—and that means higher prices at the checkout, not because farmers are profiting but because they are being squeezed. They deserve better. Australian families deserve better from this federal government.

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