Barnaby Joyce (New England, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's very rare that I agree with the Maritime Union of Australia, but I do today. With the issues in the Middle East and the threats of closure of the Strait of Hormuz, we have to be incredibly aware of our vulnerabilities. We are supposed to have 23 days of diesel supplies—it's actually supposed to be 24 or 25 days, but, in the last quarterly analysis, we only had 23 days. That takes into account what is at sea on ships of convenience, which, at the right point in time, could be ordered to go to any other part of the world. That becomes part of the stock. It also talks about normal usage. If there is a run on diesel, we won't be waiting 23 days. Those ships of convenience will go somewhere else, and we will run out of what we do have incredibly quickly.

Might I remind everybody that hospitals run on diesel when the power goes out? There is more diesel used for energy in Australia than electricity. This building runs on diesel if the lights go out. And, if we run out of diesel, the lights in Australia will go out. The trucks will stop; foods going to supermarkets will stop; transport will stop—everything will grind to a halt. People will get hungry, and I don't see any plan in this place to deal with this.