Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This issue is of great importance to my electorate and rural and regional electorates around the country. Those opposite in government are laughing about the fact that people in my electorate can't get fuel. They are laughing about the fact that businesses, like my fishermen on the wharves of Mooloolaba and my transport companies in Fisher and on the Sunshine Coast, can't get fuel. And, if you can, you're paying north of $3 a litre for diesel. Those opposite might think that's funny, but I can tell them that people are having to be laid off as a result and I can assure them that those people don't think it's funny. The government comes in here and says, 'Nothing to see—there is no shortage of fuel.' Why, then, are there more than 600 petrol stations without fuel in this country? Why is that?

I have had fishermen contact me today and say that they can't get diesel, again, on the wharves. I've had farmers tell me that the price of urea has gone up—how much, do you reckon, in the last three weeks? I'll tell you how much. The price of urea has gone up 50 per cent in just three weeks. That's going to have an impact on farmers and their ability to fertilise their crops. And that's going to have an impact on—you guessed it—food, because it doesn't just come from the supermarket; it comes from the farmers.

An opposition member: It doesn't grow in the aisles.

It doesn't grow in the aisles.

One of the other issues that is a sleeper issue in this fuel security crisis is the fuel security for our Australian Defence Force. In 2021, I led an inquiry in relation to fuel security for our Defence Force. That committee, of both Liberal and Labor members, recommended to the government that they needed to take a very close look at fuel security for the Australian Defence Force. You know what this Labor government's response was? 'Noted'—not 'accept', but 'noted'.

We have got a looming issue here, in a world where the geopolitical environment is the most uncertain since 1945. We have seen a war in Europe that still rages. We now have a war in the Middle East, and God forbid we should see another war in the Indo-Pacific. But if we do, our Australian defence forces are at grave risk of not being able to provide fuel to our Navy, to our Army and to our Air Force.

The committee was told by the ADF, once again, 'Nothing to see here; everything will be alright.' But the committee said: 'We don't think that's right. We are gravely concerned about our fuel security in this country, particularly for the Australian Defence Force.' This Labor government's response was 'noted'—not, 'We're going to get more fuel here, build more fuel bunkers and build more opportunities to store fuel and refine fuel.'

Who could forget the Prime Minister's personal promise, in the lead-up to the 2022 election, of his domestic shipping facility—his domestic ships that he was going to build. Where are they? Where will they be, if we see a conflict? They haven't even been on the marine architect's drawing board. This country is hopelessly prepared from a military defence perspective in relation to fuel. This government needs to get its skates on and fix it.

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