Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

I second the motion. I really welcome the motion being put forward by the member for Wannon and shadow minister for energy. Australia is facing a national crisis right now. If every member goes and looks at the cost of petrol or diesel in the petrol stations across their electorates, they will see the consequences of this crisis and, more importantly, how their constituents are doing it tough.

Before I came to the dispatch box today, the price of petrol a litre was about $2.50 in the Goldstein electorate; it was about $3.20 for diesel. As the shadow minister correctly pointed out, there are going to be so many families driving between soccer and various other sports this Saturday, questioning whether they can afford to do it and keep supporting their kids. But more importantly, they're going to increasingly be carpooling to see how it is that they can save a buck, particularly in the lead-up to Easter. In the lead-up to Easter, it's so important to understand, habitually, how important it is that families connect. They can't even afford to drive to see their family or afford the holiday that they have booked and had had booked for months at a caravan park or somewhere where they're driving. That is increasingly being put at jeopardy because of soaring energy prices and fuel prices. This is something that Australians are fixated on right now.

What do they expect of their government? They expect leadership. They expect action. But instead what they're hearing is silence. And this is what is so terrifying for so many Australians. We've gone through a situation where, within one week, we've had the Minister for Climate Chang and Energy go from saying, 'There is no problem; we've got plenty of abundant fuel,' to three days later declaring a national crisis, to now already having our second National Cabinet on the national energy crisis. This government has been caught not just flat footed, not just asleep at the wheel—though they have been—but in a state of denial about the scale of the challenge that is being faced by our country and the cost impact it's having on Australian farmers, manufacturers, the freight industry. Of course all of that gets picked up by Australian consumers and also Australian small businesses.

Think about it. Right now, we have small businesses that are already living with the consequences of industrial relations inflation, monetary inflation stoked by pouring debt petrol on the inflation fire because, under the Albanese government, there's always fuel for inflation, just not for farmers or families. All of the other costs and taxes and charges are going up. And now those that are holiday destinations or part of the tourism industry are getting cancellations for Easter because families are saying: 'We can't make ends meet under the Albanese government. We can't make ends meet when you add on the extra cost of fuel.' Australian households are the ones that are living the consequences of this government, but it will cascade.

This is always the worry about these sorts of events. The first tremor can often be the sign of a bigger earthquake that is to come. The economic earthquake that is going to happen under the Albanese government if we don't take prompt, immediate action to stand with consumers—to make sure they can get the fuel at the pump so they can be in the position they need to be—is a central thing this parliament should be focused on this week. Instead what we've had is a government that has dithered. They introduced this bill. They have not brought it to a vote to drive it through legislatively, to increase the penalties for those who seek to price gouge or take advantage of vulnerable Australians at this time. I've written to the Treasurer and asked for a briefing on the legislation. He hasn't even bothered to respond.

It's quite simple. We need action and we need it immediately. We should expect the Treasurer and the minister for energy to step up to the plate, let alone the dispatch box, and do their job, but instead they have not worked with us in a bipartisan fashion in the way that we have wanted. They are not seeking to bring out a sense of urgency about the importance of this legislation, and the only people who are going to pay the price are going to be Australian families, Australian small businesses and of course, particularly, rural and regional communities.

We've had this consistent delusion from the government that there is no problem around fuel—this denial from this government that there is no problem around fuel. Yet, after initially saying there's no problem, the minister for energy has had to come into this parliament every single day and answer simple questions in question time and has had to read out the number of petrol stations that are going dry. Australians are living that. Increasingly I'm hearing stories in urban areas of Australia, including in Melbourne, where people are parking cars deliberately to stop people accessing petrol pumps. This is urgent. It is real. Can the Albanese government please act?

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