Richard Marles (Corio, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question, and I acknowledge the incredible work he is doing on behalf of his community on the Central Coast. The National Fuel Security Plan, which the Prime Minister has just announced, is a critical step in meeting this moment. Australians are rightly anxious about the war in the Middle East, the impact that it is already having on fuel prices and supply, and what it might mean for the future. This is a challenge for Australia, as it is for the world. This plan addresses both price and supply.

Last week the opposition was suggesting that, because of a lack of fuel, the Australian Defence Force was not able to train, to exercise and to hone its war-fighting skills in the way it normally would. I would like to assure you that this is absolutely not true, and obviously now is not the time to be scaring people for partisan objectives.

The Australian Defence Force is training, as it always has, and in part because of the decisions that our government has taken. When we came to office, back in 2022, we inherited from the coalition a plan to invest $1 billion in our strategic fuel reserves for the Defence Force over the next 30 years—a plan that was wholly inadequate. Well before the events of the last month, very early on, we tripled this investment; we brought the spending into the decade. This means that as of today the strategic fuel reserves for the Defence Force are double what they were when we came to office back in 2022.

As a result, right now Exercise Kakadu is underway. This is the largest maritime exercise that our Defence Force undertakes every two years. It involves five Navy ships, 700 personnel and 18 other partner nations. I can assure you that this exercise is absolutely in full swing. The National Fuel Security Plan is absolutely vital to meet the challenge of this time. And because of the decisions of our government, we've been able to secure strategic fuel reserves for our Defence Force so that the men and the women of the ADF remain absolutely prepared to keep Australians safe.

See this speech in context