Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Hansard source

Can I say that, fortunately, through this national fuel crisis, the opposition has been able to lead. We've seen that quite clearly because the government, right through the last month, since the Iran war began, has put its head in the sand and pretended that absolutely nothing is going on—nothing is happening with regard to Australia's fuel security and the price of diesel and petrol that Australians are paying at the bowser.

Finally, it seems like the penny has dropped. The sad reality is that we're in this situation today where it does seem that the penny has dropped for the government, yet it's far too late for Australians. They're really, really hurting. I hope that when the Prime Minister comes into question time today the first thing he does is apologise to the Australian people. You need to apologise to the Australian people, Prime Minister, because you have messed this up. It's been a catastrophe. Your minister should go, and you should apologise to the Australian people.

The fact that we're here today with this rushed legislation coming through, which the opposition have been happy to support because we were given a briefing at seven o'clock last night, shows that the government is literally chasing its tail in trying to deal with this national fuel crisis. I'll give you the most classic example as to why they're doing that. We're making changes to the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act so that they can deal with getting oil here to Australia. Guess what they did last year? They sent a message to EFA, a statement of expectations, saying: 'You're not to touch oil. You're not to touch gas. You're not to touch coal.' And, yet, here we are today, and they've finally realised that oil's important. They had no idea that diesel powers 50 per cent of our energy in this nation—50 per cent! Fishing, farming and mining are all dependent on diesel. They had no idea about the importance of diesel and no idea about the importance of coal and gas to our nation, especially when you have something like a war taking place. The government had to be led kicking and screaming to admit there was a national crisis going on. Now, finally, they seem to be taking some measures to deal with supply. I hope they're successful, and that's why we're happy to support it.

But the other thing the government has to be able to do is identify where the supply shortages are in the nation and get the fuel there. They've had rain in Western Australia. They're out in their tractors sowing. Have they got enough diesel to make sure they can get those paddocks sowed? They're about to do the same thing in Victoria. Have they got enough diesel to make sure that can happen? New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland—you name it—they need that diesel. The government have to make sure that they know where the shortages are and that they can get the fuel to them. So far, there is no sign whatsoever of them being able to do that even though we've been calling for it for over a month. There's no sign of it whatsoever.

The other thing that, once again, the coalition has led on is cutting in half the fuel excise. The government has finally realised that people are hurting. There's an example that we've been given of a service which takes kidney patients to get dialysis and the people who drive those patients so that they can get that treatment. They're now wondering whether they'll be able to keep that service going, because they can't afford the fuel. We obviously were out on Friday calling for a halving of the fuel excise. It's funny—the Prime Minister did a press conference afterwards and he pooh-poohed the idea. Once again, hopefully he's got the dignity to come in here and apologise and say to the Australian people, 'We messed up on the supply and we've messed up on the price, and I'm sorry.' We'd all say, 'Okay, fair cop,' if he would come in and do that. We'd say, 'There's a prime minister who admits he's been absolutely incompetent with the way he's handled this whole thing, but at least he's big enough and honest enough to be able to admit that's the case.' I'll be very, very surprised if we get that apology. But we over on this side all live in hope.

But the sad reality for the Australian people is that they're living in hope but with a huge financial penalty. They're hurting all because of the cost of fuel in this nation.

I wonder what the Prime Minister will say to them, because since we said what we thought should happen on Friday, carving out the fuel excise, and today—this will get higher by Wednesday, when I understand they are going to introduce the legislation—the government has raked in another $50 million through the excise just in that space of time. I wonder whether there will be some sort of asking for forgiveness with someone saying: 'Sorry, we messed up again. We should have acted when the opposition said'. They could have said, 'Great idea opposition,' on Friday and, bang, Monday we'd be here introducing that legislation along with these other three pieces of legislation. Wouldn't the Australian people welcome that? If we had the fuel excise bill cutting it in half and the road user charge bill in here today, wouldn't they like that? The government wouldn't be raking in maybe another $10 million today, another $10 million tomorrow and another $10 million on Wednesday—and who knows when all of these will get royal assent. We don't know that. We do not know that.

We are going to put forward some amendments this afternoon on this bill. We think that if you are going to let Export Finance Australia start dealing with oil, with diesel, with petroleum, with coal, with gas, then you should be able to do it not only on the national interest account but on the commercial account as well. We'll be pushing that forward; it's very good and sensible. In a national crisis, Export Finance Australia should be given all options, so we will be making sure we do that.

Then we will be looking to make amendments to the EPBC Act. One of the things that deeply concerns us at the moment—just say the government needed to build a brand-new storage facility to get the diesel or the oil or the petrol here, do you know what? They'd have to go through the full rigmarole of the EPBC changes, thanks to Labor and the Greens and their little grubby deal on the EPBC Act. We want to get rid of that because in a national emergency we need all the options on the table. This will be a good test for the Prime Minister. He could say: 'Yes. Six months ago we completely messed this up. We got carried away on ideology, not on practicality.' He could say: 'You know, I'm going to change it. We've realised this isn't good. Governing through ideology doesn't work for anyone. What the Australian people want is governing through practicality.' We will be looking at those amendments, and we will be circulating them later this afternoon.

It's good the government is listening to the Australian people. It's good the government is listening to the opposition. I hope the government will continue to act, and I hope the government understands the pain they have caused, the worry on supply and price. I conclude with this: I really do hope we will see the Prime Minister come into this chamber this afternoon and the first thing he does is apologise to the Australian people for the pain he's caused them, the worry he has caused them, the concern he has caused them due to his complete incompetence in dealing with supply, and also apologise for the fact that his and his government's incompetence has led to a dramatic rise in fuel prices, which is hurting Australians beyond their budget like they never, ever could have imagined.

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