Carol Berry (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor has always been a party that cares deeply about the impacts of toughening economic conditions on those who are impacted the most. This is fundamental to our cause as a party. As the opposition has shown, it's easy to be reactive, to trot out an empty slogan or to misrepresent the facts to score cheap political points. What's harder and requires more sophistication is to pull the right levers at the right time in a dynamic and challenging geopolitical context. In stark contrast to the assertion made by the member for Goldstein, the Albanese Labor government has taken strong action to secure fuel supply for Australians. We are working with stakeholders across the country to ensure that the right amount of fuel gets to the right parts of the country to respond to what has been a massive surge in demand. This is a responsibility that we take incredibly seriously, and we understand what is at stake.

We've appointed a Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator to support coordination between the Commonwealth and state and territory governments on fuel security and supply chain resilience. We are addressing fuel supply chain disruption by releasing up to 20 per cent of the baseline minimum stockholding obligation for petrol and diesel. This allows the release of over 700,000,000 litres of petrol and diesel from Australia's domestic reserves. We've also temporarily amended Australia's fuel quality standards to allow higher sulphur levels for 60 days. This will allow around 100,000,000 litres a month of new petrol supply that would otherwise have been exported to be blended into our existing domestic supply. We've empowered the ACCC to impose fines of up to $100 million for price gouging and uncompetitive behaviour, which sends a very clear signal to anyone engaging in unethical behaviour in this crisis that they will be punished for it. A short time ago, we announced a six-month adjustment to diesel standards that will help suppliers bring more fuel into the domestic market.

We understand that the conflict in the Middle East is causing significant challenges, and we're working as hard as we can to address these challenges as quickly as possible. We understand that we are living in challenging times. When confronted with challenging economic circumstances, our government is doing what Labor governments do best. We're engaged in nation building. We're engaged in implementing reforms to make our society and our economy as fair as possible. As the gap grows globally between the haves and the have nots, it's part of the Labor project to ensure that our society and our economy remain as fair as possible. That means we implement reforms which impact every Australian, Australia-wide, to make our economy as fair as possible. I, for one—and I know this is true for all of my colleagues—will continue to passionately advocate for fairness on behalf of the people of our electorates.

Labor has delivered record investments in public hospitals, public health care and public education because we know that these great systems are also great equalisers. Labor has taken several steps to reduce pressure on households and to improve fairness in our system. When it comes to cost-of-living relief, we're working hard to relieve some of the pressures impacting on families, and we have delivered tax cuts for every Australian taxpayer, cheaper medicines for all Australians under the PBS, subsidised child care and record investments to create more housing supply, particularly for those who need that housing the most. We've delivered targeted help for first home owners and for renters. We've increased bulk-billing to reduce the cost of seeing a doctor. We've reduced HECS debts. We've delivered more support for apprentices. We've delivered fee-free TAFE. We've delivered pay rises for those workers who are critical to our society, such as early childhood educators and aged-care workers. We've reduced unemployment, and we've protected penalty rates.

Labor understands this truth: the cost of living isn't just about prices; it's also about wages. The Albanese Labor government has worked to get wages moving again, backing pay rises for low-paid workers, supporting collective bargaining and restoring fairness to workplace laws that have been deliberately weakened. Australians believe deeply in health care and ensuring that education and a range of our systems, like aged care, need to deliver. They need to work for all Australians, and we're passionate about delivering fairness for all Australians.

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