Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Hansard source

I did make that comment because it's accurate, and that is the position the government has been communicating consistently to the Australian people because the responsible thing to do is to provide the facts to the Australian people—that the ships continue to arrive and that the refineries continue to work full pelt for Australians. As we have said from the very beginning, that does not mean there aren't real shortages in rural Australia in particular and that the supply chain has not struggled when demand doubles. And that has always been the case.

Now, the honourable member asked me why I won't use more information-gathering powers. It does strike me that, to use those powers, we would need to use the legislation that the Treasurer put through the parliament and the member for Wannon and everyone else over there opposed. It reminds me of the demand that the House return to pass hate legislation, then voting against it and then voting against other legislation and demanding we use it.

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