Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister Assisting for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Across my electorate of Barker, communities are confronting the consequences of a fuel crisis that this government has failed to manage. In town after town across regional South Australia, the simple act of filling up a tank has become a lottery. Communities that rely on fuel to function are now being told there's none left. In the Mallee town of Karoonda, the bowsers ran dry five days ago. The town's only service station has run out of both petrol and diesel and can't say to its community when a delivery will arrive. Residents are being forced into very long travel to simply fill up their vehicles.

In Springton, in our nation's iconic Barossa, locals are reporting similar problems. Pumps have run dry and the community is being told supplies are uncertain. Across Barker, many service stations have multiple bowsers closed because particular types of fuel have run out. This is not an inconvenience—in Barker, and across regional Australia, it's a threat to daily life. Let me give you an example of that. In Karoonda, I'm advised by the school that the school bus will run out of fuel today. Without fuel, children cannot go to school. Without fuel, emergency services can't operate. I can only hope and pray that the good volunteers of the ambulance service and the CFS had the wherewithal to fill up those vehicles before we ran out of fuel.

Diesel powers tractors. It sows our crops. It harvests our crops. It powers the machinery that keeps Australian agriculture moving. Without diesel, farms grind to a halt. Let me read directly from a constituent in Loxton. Her name is Nicolle. She wrote this to my office:

OTR Loxton had no diesel left late Friday afternoon. Our farm ordered 10,000 litres two weeks ago for spraying after the recent rain and to begin seeding. Only 1,500 litres … arrived … It was rationed and will be gone by lunchtime tomorrow—

That's today now.

We were told by the supplier they cannot get the supply into the country because it is being held in the city where there are more voters.

Here it is. We've got an election in South Australia in 10 days, and it's no surprise to me that fuel is being directed to the cities and not the regions. That's the reality on the ground in regional Australia.

While regional communities are running out of fuel, Australians are also being slugged with skyrocketing prices. In recent days, petrol prices have surged by as much as 40c a litre in regional South Australia, pushing prices beyond $2 a litre, and they're still climbing. This is adding to the cost of food. High diesel prices increase the cost of planting crops, harvesting crops and transporting goods. Those costs don't go away. They get passed down the supply chain. And guess where they land? They land in the shopping trolleys of Australian consumers. As they're walking down the aisles, they can be reminded—with every item they purchase—that this government has failed them.