Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to acknowledge one of my state members, Jimmy McDonald, who reached out to me on the weekend. We have a number of fuel suppliers and distributors in our region, and he received a text from one of them—I have also had conversations with many other suppliers. To put it in terms as simple as possible, the text outlined the fact that this supplier would normally receive between eight and nine B-doubles a week from the Brisbane terminal. They service 450 farmers across the region. They supply six independent service stations. They provide the fuel for the bus companies that get the kids to and from school, and they supply to councils. So that's all the vehicles and the machinery that go with making sure that our community is functional. In the last two weeks they've gone from eight or nine B-double loads, out of the Brisbane terminal, to two B-double loads. The text that Jimmy McDonald received said that, as of this week, there is nothing scheduled.

I want to share with the parliament my concerns: if my growers—the 450 farmers—can't start their tractors up to plant the food, the crisis we have today is going to look like child's play.