Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

In times of crisis, Australians look to leaders for clarity, for conviction and for direction. The strength of a nation's leadership isn't measured in the good times; it's measured in the tough times. The truth is, across our country right now, Australians are worried. They're anxious. They're deeply concerned about what the current challenges mean for them, for their families, for their businesses and for their communities. They're confused by mixed messaging coming from the government. These aren't abstract concerns. They're felt around the kitchen tables. They're felt at the cafes, at the pubs—wherever people gather, they're talking about it, and they're confused, they're worried and they're anxious.

Australians remember, with great trepidation, the long days spent confined to their homes during the pandemic. They recall governments determining where they could go, who they could see and how they should live their daily lives. These experiences have not been forgotten. Australians want reassurance that the government has a coherent plan—one that is firmly anchored in the national interest and one that doesn't return us to the days of heavy-handed government intervention. Right at the heart of it, they want transparency. They want to know what's going on. That's how Australians are. And it's fair enough too. We live in one of the greatest democracies in the world, and transparency is a central principle in that democracy.

In these circumstances, transparency means understanding what is going on with this fuel crisis. And we've heard the Prime Minister in recent days say that national coordination is essential and the Commonwealth government is responsible for national fuel security. But, two days later, he was back to denying any leadership role, saying the response to the fuel shortages was a matter for the states and territories, not a question for him. Then he was insisting that everything was fine and there was no crisis. Mistakenly, a few days later—I don't think he was supposed to do it—the energy minister said there was a national crisis. He said that. He realised what he'd said, and they went into a complete tailspin about it.

Time and time again, we've heard the government say that there's lots of fuel, that there's more than there's ever been and that no shipments have been delayed or cancelled, or they've already been replaced. Today we asked a question, as we have every day, about what we are seeing in our supply chain and what fuel there is. We asked the Prime Minister to commit to releasing, on a daily basis, the latest information on the number of servos that are stocked out without fuel, the detailed fuel stock holdings by location, the number of ships which are bound for Australia and how many have been cancelled or delayed. I would have thought that, in the middle of a fuel crisis, they are pretty reasonable things for the Australian people to want to know about. You know what they were saying over there? They were saying, 'No, that's too political.' Several of the ministers yelled out: 'No, that's way too—we can't have the Australian people knowing the facts. That way, we can't spin our narrative.'

Australians deserve to know what's going on. They are completely confused. The fact that a minister can stand here at the dispatch box and say that there is more fuel in our supply chain than there was before the crisis and then acknowledge under pressure that there are over 600 fuel stations without fuel—it is no wonder Australians are anxious. They're confused, and they want to know what is going on. Rather than being honest and open with the public, the opposition has had to pry information out of the government question by question in parliament, and they sneer. Every time they have to actually say what is going on, they sneer. They're sneering at the Australian people. They are sneering at people who want to know whether or not they can take their family on a holiday or to meet other family members or to go to church or to other events at Easter time. These people want to know—all Australians want to know—whether or not they can do that.

The Prime Minister's lack of leadership was again on show in the response to our proposal for dealing with affordability of fuel at the bowser. We laid out a very clear plan, fully funded so it wouldn't fuel inflation, to bring down the price of fuel by over 26c a litre. You know what one of the ministers said that day? They said it was a 'thought bubble'. Then they went away and had the weekend off. They came in on Monday, and they suddenly realised in a panic that they actually had to bring down the price of fuel. They brought down the price of fuel. We showed leadership, and they showed a complete absence of leadership in dealing with this.

Alongside transparency and responsibility, leadership requires accountability too. The lack of a willingness to take accountability from this government is like nothing I have seen. In the course of my career, I've not seen anything like it. Soon after this crisis began, they said that all the inflation that you're feeling and all the interest rate rises that you've seen were all caused by the crisis. But we know that, before this began, interest rates were already rising. Inflation was at the highest level of any developed country in the world. We also know that the Treasurer has found a long list of people to blame for his complete failures on managing the economy. He's blamed Xi. He's blamed Trump. He's blamed Putin. He's back to blaming Trump now. He'll always find someone to blame. The one thing he will not do is take accountability and fix the problem. There is no accountability at all.

Australians are feeling the weight of this in their electricity bills, in their health insurance premiums, which are up 4½ per cent today, and in the cost of putting a roof over their heads, which is $28,000 a year after tax. I'm always reminded this is after tax. They're having to pay extra because of rising interest rates under this government. The lack of leadership from this treasurer and this prime minister has impacted Australians lives for the worse for the last four years. Not only had Australians been grappling with rising inflation, high inflation and rising interest rates going into this fuel crisis; they have also been suffering from an economy that just does not work for them. As I said in this place the other day, whilst the economy has grown by 7½ per cent, population in this country, mostly immigration, has grown by exactly 7½ per cent. It is no wonder Australians are having to work harder for less. Australians are struggling to put food on the table. So many families are struggling, and they are struggling now to put fuel in their cars.

Australians are watching and they're worried. They are looking for leadership. They're looking for clarity. They're looking for action. They're not looking for confusion, contradiction and delay, and this government has repeatedly failed to provide the leadership that they need. I call on the government to get on with the job. On top of following our lead by bringing down the price of fuel, they should immediately make the fuel stocks—what's available across the supply chain: in servos, on the way to the servos and in ships coming to the country—transparent on a daily basis. It needs to be made transparent on a daily basis. They then need to move the fuel to those servos. We know there are 600 servos without fuel—that's the latest count, although we've seen other counts published of 800 or even 900 servos without fuel. There is a complete lack of clarity about this. But we know it's a lot because we see it when we're getting out and about around our electorates. It is time to move that fuel that they keep talking about to those servos so Australians can have confidence that it's there.

They need to come clean about what happens next. If they are going to impose heavy handed mandates on Australians, they need to tell Australians that. Tonight, at seven o'clock, the Prime Minister has an opportunity to do these things. These are the tests for him tonight: showing transparency, accountability, responsibility and telling Australians where this goes next—because right now they have simply had enough.

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