Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The member for Kingsford Smith, the assistant minister, ought to know that the fuel excise cut was what the coalition asked—demanded, implored—the government to do, and the government then saw fit to do it. It was the plan put forward by the coalition. The road user charge was also proposed by coalition members to make sure that we could keep our trucks on the road.

Speaking of keeping trucks on the road—I spoke to Andrew Duff from Goolagong. He's got a couple of trucks in that little town on the Lachlan Valley Way in the Cowra shire, and this is what he said to me. Labor members ought to listen to this. He said: 'We've got no reception; we've got no services. We've always bought bulk fuel off BP Lowes, and we're not hoarding. We've always paid our bill. I've always paid my taxes. I've been in business. I've had my own truck since I was 26, and I'm 41 now. This is the first time in 15 years that I'm staring down the barrel of financial ruin. That's hard to swallow because we've never defaulted on anything. I went to check the account three weeks ago because I knew what was coming. What a lot of these politicians don't understand, or maybe they do—I'm talking about this Albanese government—is that the margins weren't there before this happened. The base inflation is killing us. When I started out, I used to buy a 20-litre drum of Cat DEO for engine oil. It was $80. I bought oil; one of our trucks was out. We buy bulk everything now. It's the only way to save. It cost me $200 for 20 litres of oil the other day. The margins and the insurances have literally, and I'm not being dramatic in this sense, collapsed the industry. They have. But the thing is that they haven't realised it.'

Andrew Duff and his wife, Claire, are good people. They are emblematic of people right throughout regional Australia. They can't afford to pay for the fuel for their trucks. That's if they are lucky enough to have fuel. Goolagong, in the Central West of New South Wales, has been out of diesel and fuel for three weeks, and that's simply not good enough.

When the Prime Minister comes in here and says that he and his government are transparent—well, yes they are, because people can see right through them! The issue is about supply, accessibility, availability and affordability. All of those things have disappeared in regional Australia. It's just like the leadership of this Prime Minister and his government, because they have been missing in action right throughout regional Australia.

And it's not just the truckies. It's also the farmers because it is sowing season. I know a lot of those opposite don't realise how crucial it is to have diesel at this point in time, in April and early May when the seeds go in the ground to grow the crops that are then harvested later in the year. That's how it works. But it can't work, and it won't work, if farmers have no diesel to put in their tanks to drive their heavy farm machinery to sow the crops—to direct drill and to scarify. Then, later in the year, they won't be putting their headers out in the paddocks because they won't have a crop to strip. And that is so tragic because the fuel security crisis will lead to a food security crisis, and that will lead to a national security crisis. And this is all on Labor's watch.

What does the Minister for Climate Change and Energy do? He appoints Anthea Harris. My goodness! As if she's not busy enough already doing the review into the Water Act, he gives her his own job; he outsources his own job, for her to do it as well. That's not good enough, Minister—simply not good enough. It's as if the people of the Murray-Darling Basin haven't got enough on their plates and on their minds. Now the person who's supposed to be doing the Water Act review is now doing another task outsourced by the hapless minister. It's simply not good enough. This is the same minister who couldn't stop the boats when he had the responsibility to do so. Now he can't tell us what boats are coming and what isn't coming. It's simply not good enough.

As a little aside, it's Easter this weekend. I just finished speaking to Rhiannon Druce from the Junee Licorice and Chocolate Factory. She said their sales for chocolate Easter eggs are at an all-time low because people simply can't afford them. The other thing is that people aren't going through their little shop because they can't afford the fuel to get out to that place. That is just a tragedy for that business. It's emblematic of what's happening right across regional Australia.

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