Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What are we talking about when we talk about energy sovereignty? It means the capacity of a territory to meet its energy needs in an autonomous and sustainable way to guarantee its independence and to have direct control over its energy resources, production and infrastructure. It could mean guaranteeing security of the energy supply in a particular territory. It could mean encouraging the development of renewable energy to reduce imports of fossil fuels. It could mean investing in the adaptation or construction of infrastructure to strengthen energy resilience. It could mean developing meaningful and long-lasting relationships with allies and partners in our region to achieve gains of trade. Or it could mean a combination of these things.

We have seen gains of trade in action recently through the Albanese Labor government's broad approach to improving energy sovereignty in this country. This approach includes drawing on our relationships with Singapore, Brunei and Malaysia to secure new agreements for the supply of fuel and fertiliser. Our mutually beneficial relationship with Indonesia was also recently illustrated through the securing of three shipments of additional fertiliser, or 90,000 tonnes, and 250,000 additional tonnes of urea. In securing these resources, the government was able to emphasise that energy security is a dual carriageway, with our gas playing a critical role in this gain-of-trade approach.

Achieving energy sovereignty, however, should not be automatically conflated with calls to drill and calls to explore. Sure, a call to explore is worth exploring in itself, and there are many factors that determine whether exploration should proceed, including environmental factors, economic factors and how prospective the area earmarked for exploration is. But there should be no confusion: gas exploration and drilling do not automatically mean the energy sovereignty problem is solved. Claims to this effect are oversimplified, ignore the complexities and level of investment involved in exploration and also risk detracting from other things that can be done, and are being done, to improve energy sovereignty—such as the government's recent release of 20 per cent of Australia's fuel reserves; the change to petrol and diesel standards to increase the flow of fuel, especially to regional Australia; and the simplification of the process for Australia's refineries to access government support.

A basket of measures to improve energy sovereignty was also a feature of the recent federal government budget, which committed $11.9 billion to the previously existing National Fuel Security Plan, with the aim of securing Australia's near-term fuel and fertiliser security. Within this was the establishment of a fuel and fertiliser security facility, a $7.5 billion investment, which is intended to increase the domestic supply and storage of fuel and fertiliser by providing financial support, including loans, equity guarantees, insurance and price support. Secondly, $3.2 billion was committed for the establishment of an Australian fuel security reserve. As part of this initiative, approximately one billion litres of fuel will be reserved to increase long-term diesel and aviation fuel supply and storage, and the minimum stockholding obligation will increase Australia's critical fuel reserves to 50 days. The focus of this is to address potential regional lack of stock and supply constraints for essential users in anticipation of future potential supply disruptions.

Separately, the budget also committed just over $35 million to be spent over four years from 2026-27 for the establishment of a domestic gas reservation mechanism, which aims to ensure a secure and affordable domestic gas supply through the wholesale market from 1 July 2027. These funds will be spent over four years to not only develop and implement the domestic gas reservation mechanism but to conduct gas market analysis and policy development to promote market reliability and energy security, to modernise offshore resources regulation, to support gas investment and to mitigate supply shortfalls. The Labor government's Domestic Gas Reservation Scheme is a landmark Labor reform designed to deliver more supply and the lowest possible prices for gas users.

Energy sovereignty is not 'one size fits all'. As this government has demonstrated, it requires a broad approach that is more considered than simple populist calls to drill at all costs.

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