Dai Le (Fowler, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Never before has the conversation around energy affordability, security and the cost of living received more attention from this government than it has now. It is disappointing that it has taken a national fuel crisis, driven by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, to bring that urgency. Families and small businesses in my communities have been living with this reality for years without meaningful action that helps those struggling the most.

It was in November 2023—that's over 30 months ago—that I first questioned the Prime Minister and the government about cutting the fuel excise. I have raised this issue again and again in this House. Public transport in Fowler is limited. Buses and trains do not run regularly enough or late enough to get shift workers home. Many households are multigenerational, caring for elderly relatives and raising children while running small businesses. More than one car is not a luxury; it is a necessity. Yet, it has taken a national crisis, with petrol now above $2.50 a litre and diesel above $3.20, for this government to act. I welcome the fuel excise cut, as I mentioned, but it shouldn't have taken an international crisis.

What my community has often received instead are announcements that benefit those already ahead, while those barely surviving are left behind with false hope. Constituents have contacted my office frightened and concerned—and rightly so. Their telephone and data plans have gone up. Labour and travel rates for contractors and for small businesses have also increased overnight. The wholesale coffee price has gone up, and goods delivery now carries a fuel surcharge. These are increases that the majority of people in Fowler cannot absorb. These are not isolated incidents. They are the ripple effects of a fuel crisis flowing directly into the homes and small businesses of Western Sydney.

I ask the government: do you genuinely believe that the three free hours of solar energy between 11 am and 2 pm will cover the higher phone bill, the dearer contractor, the more expensive shopping basket and all of the other increases that ordinary working Australians are having to deal with right now? My community does not believe that, and neither should this House.

This crisis has exposed something far deeper than a temporary price spike. As we know, Australia earns about $385 billion a year exporting our energy resources to the world. LNG alone earns around $65 billion. Yet, we import 90 per cent of our refined fuel at the cost of nearly $60 billion, making refined petroleum our single largest import by value—not iron ore, not machinery but petrol. We export our gas and crude oil offshore to be refined and buy it back at a world price. I refer to the member for Kennedy who constantly makes the point that we sell our oil for $8 billion and buy it back for $62 billion.

In 2022, Australia—remember, we are the largest island continent—held 310 days of strategic fuel reserve. Today, we hold barely 30 days of diesel. We are the only IEA member that has failed to meet the mandatory 90-day reserve requirements since 2012. In 20 years we went from being near self-sufficient to critically vulnerable, and no government sounded the alarm until the Strait of Hormuz closed.

This is not about fuel at the bowser. Diesel moves our food. It runs the trucks carrying produce to the supermarkets, the fruit shops, the halal butchers and the small groceries in Fowler. Analysts warn that a prolonged diesel shortage could spike food prices up by 50 per cent. When that happens, it will not be the wealthy suburbs that feel it first. Communities like mine in Fowler will feel it. Fuel security is food security, and this government has treated both as an afterthought.

Let me turn to the solar sharer. The scheme promises three hours of free electricity during peak solar generation. The minister says it is for everyone, but the design tells a different story. My community is made up of labourers, tradies, nurses and small-business owners. They are not at home at midday. Their energy use peaks between 5 pm and 9 pm—exactly when this policy provides no benefit. And, when retailers provide three free hours, those costs do not disappear. They are recovered through higher prices outside of that window during the very hours my community is cooking dinner and keeping the lights on for their families, and often they are large families. Independent economists warn that low-income renters risk cross-subsidising wealthier households to charge electric vehicles for free. That is not energy equity. The scheme also requires a smart meter and active opt in. Around 42 per cent of Fowler residents are renters, many from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Navigating retailer websites and restructuring routines around a midday window will always leave the most disadvantaged behind. At its centre the solar sharer is deeply flawed because what about the rainy days when there is little solar? Will power still be free, and will all this demand break the grid?

I'm calling on the government to do three things. First, commit to a binding, publicly reported road map toward the IEA 90-day fuel reserve obligation. The PM has cited infrastructure constraints, and I understand them, but we are the only IEA member not even trying. Set the milestones, fund the storage and be accountable to a plan. Second, bring forward the domestic gas reservation policy now, not in 2027. Ninety-three per cent of our LNG is exported while Australian families cannot afford to heat their homes. We are a gas-rich nation. Our people should benefit first, and we need to tax this resource fairly.

Third, replace the solar sharer with a genuine solar equity program. The government's own community solar banks program and the solar for apartments scheme have proven that the model works. These programs are for shared rooftop solar for public housing and apartment buildings in low-income postcodes, but they are funded at a token scale. The community solar banks program covers just 25,000 households nationally. That is not a program; that is a pilot. Scale it up. Fully subsidise solar panels for low-income and multicultural communities locked out of the current scheme. Give a renter in Cabramatta, a pensioner in Fairfield or Liverpool, and a single mother out in south-west Sydney a genuine and lasting reduction in their energy bill, not a theoretical saving between 11 am and 2 pm on a weekday. Some days it rains and it's cloudy.

Phone bills are going up, contractors are costing more, supply chains are costing more and groceries are costing more. And the government's answer is three free hours that most of my community cannot access. Three free hours is not a cost-of-living strategy. Ninety days of excise relief is not a fuel security plan. Telling Australians not to panic, while releasing emergency reserves, is not leadership. Leadership is building the storage. It's reserving our own gas for our own people. Leadership is putting solar on the roof of every public housing block and apartment building in the most disadvantaged postcodes in this country. The people of Fowler are watching and so is the nation.

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