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

There is a conflict unfolding thousands of miles away, but it's casting a very real shadow over households in my electorate of Fowler. When we speak about wars and geopolitical tensions in this place, it is often in the language of strategy, alliances and global security, but, to the people I represent in Sydney's west, be it in Cabramatta, Canley Vale, Bonnyrigg or Liverpool, geopolitics is not an abstract concept. It shows up in the most ordinary place of all: the petrol pump.

In the past week alone, we have already seen fuel prices climb by a staggering 40c per litre as tensions escalate in the Middle East and markets react to the risk of disruption in global oil supply. In parts of Western Sydney, regular unleaded has already pushed past $2.20 per litre, and I just filled mine up today at about $2.29. For many Australians, that may be an inconvenience, but for the families I represent it's something far more serious. Fowler is a community of workers and travellers, tradies driving utes packed with tools, cleaners and carers driving across suburbs before sunrise, parents doing the school drop-offs because reliable public transport simply does not reach where they live or where they work and small-business owners delivering stock in vans and trucks after hours just to keep their doors open.

When fuel jumps as high as it is at the moment, it affects how a family can afford to get to work, it affects whether a small business can afford to deliver its products and it smashes the weekly household budget, which still has to balance at the end of the month. For families already under immense cost-of-living pressure, these global shocks hit harder, and they hit communities in Western Sydney first because, while people in some parts of our cities can rely on metro trains, trams and short commutes, many in my electorate simply cannot. They rely on their cars every single day.

On top of the rising fuel prices, many of my constituents are already paying what they call the Western Sydney tax: thousands of dollars a year in tolls just to get to work. When they add fuel, tolls, groceries and electricity together, families in my community are telling me the same thing over and over. They're running out of room in the household budget.

The other group feeling the pressure tonight is our small businesses. Over the past few weeks, I've been speaking to local shop owners and operators across Fairfield, Wakeley, Bossley Park and Wetherill Park. Many of them run family businesses that have served their communities for decades. They're proud, resilient and hardworking people. They are worried, but they need to make a living and they have to work. When fuel prices rise, the cost of everything rises with it. Transport costs increase, delivery costs increase and supply prices increase, yet these small businesses cannot simply keep passing on those costs to their customers, because they know their customers—local families—are already doing it tough. So they absorb the increases themselves, their margins shrink, their stress grows and many quietly wonder how much longer they can keep going.

While this conflict is unfolding overseas, the economic impact is already being felt in suburbs across Western Sydney today, tomorrow and next week. That is why the government must recognise that global instability does not stay overseas. It arrives quickly on the balance sheets of Australian households. We are now approaching the federal budget and, for communities like Fowler, that budget matters enormously. Families do not need more slogans. They need real relief. They need practical measures that ease the pressure on energy and transport costs. They need long-term thinking about Australia's fuel security so we are not exposed every time conflict erupts near major global shipping routes. And they need a government that understands that the cost-of-living crisis looks very different depending on where you live.

Fowler is one of the most resilient communities in this country. It is a community built by migrants, refugees, workers and small-business owners who have overcome enormous challenges to build better lives for themselves and their families. But resilience should never be mistaken for limitless capacity to absorb pressure. Even the strongest communities have a breaking point. Tonight, as conflict escalates overseas, families in Western Sydney are once again bracing themselves for the economic ripple effects. They are watching the petrol price rises. They are calculating the weekly budget. They are asking themselves what they will give next.

To the families of Fowler, I want you to know this: I see the pressure you're under, I hear your concerns and I will continue to raise your voice in this place. Because while wars may begin from outside our shores, their consequences are often felt by ordinary Australians simply trying to get through their week.