Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This matter of public importance debate is on 'the government's failure to provide national leadership', moved by the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Hume. Never has there been a time to look at leadership more than right now. In question time today, the Prime Minister used the word 'overprepared'. We're certainly not overprepared when it comes to the national fuel crisis. We heard the Minister for Climate Change and Energy say, on Monday, 'I'm done,' and he certainly is when he outsources his work—his job—to Anthea Harris, who, at the moment, is doing the review into the Water Act. Now, she's also been tasked with the Fuel Supply Taskforce coordinator role, which should be something that the minister does himself.

Now, all politics is local—we all know that. When you look at the E10 and diesel prices in the Riverina electorate, it's terrible, awful reading. At Coolamon, E10 is 274.9c and diesel is 330.9c a litre. But you go through them. Cootamundra is 262.9 and 328.9; Cowra is 259.9 and 319.9; Crookwell is 263.9 and 314.9; Grenfell is 259.9 and 327.9; Gundagai is 252.9 and 315.9; Junee is 259.9 and 313.9; Lockhart is 264.9 and 314.9; Temora is 260.9 and 316.9; Tumbarumba is 266.7 and 324.7; Tumut is 254.9 and 320.9; Wagga Wagga—a big city, the largest inland city in New South Wales—is 247.9 and 313.9; Yass is 246.9 and 312.9; and Young is 247.9 and 305.9. They're figures that are too high, and that's if you can actually fill your tank. And it's sowing season. Our farmers are out there about to scarify their paddocks, direct drill, and get ready for sowing. Indeed, come harvest time, if they haven't planted, it's going to be a food security disaster—if it isn't already.

Consider this: the setting is a collapsing Australia, plagued by fuel shortages; one of humankind's most precious resources, oil, has been depleted; the world has been plunged into war, famine and financial chaos; the countryside is losing its way; what little water there is, people are fighting over; food security is almost non-existent because you cannot grow food without fertiliser, fuel or water; and the government is nowhere to be seen. Am I reading the plot for the 1979 blockbuster Mad Max? Sadly, no. I'm not. This is Australia in March 2026. I'm not over-egging it. I'm not being melodramatic. I'm not hamming it up. This is the truth. People are getting out of control. There's petrol hoarding, panic buying, fuel theft, abuse being slung at servos and empty bowsers across the regions. I've just read you the prices of fuel. It's not a low-budget dystopian action film; it's the here and now, right now, tragically.

Why won't the Treasurer provide some relief at the bowser by cutting the fuel excise or increasing the fuel tax credit? There are actions that can be done, that should be done, that must be done—but they're not being done. Farmers and trucking companies are copping it in the neck. Why won't the Prime Minister pull the levers available to him to help the situation? He'll say, 'Well, I am,' but it's not happening. Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, just do something—anything. Minister for Climate Change and Energy, we need real action and we need it now.

What I was reading sounded like Mad Max, and it was Mad Max, but it's also 'Mad Australia' in 2026, and it's happening right now. Central casting need look no further than the government frontbench to find its characters for the 2026 version of Mad Max. But, I ask, who will play the central roles of Jim Goose, Grease Rat, Clunk and Grinner? We know who they will be.

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