Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. Shane from Penrith told me: 'The way things are going, I won't be able to afford to go to work. It's either pay the bills and starve or eat and not pay the bills.' Minister, when will the government take action to ensure that fuel gets to where it needs to go so that Australians like Shane don't have to choose between eating and driving. And why won't the minister commit to daily updates of individual service stations that have run out of fuel?

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. I would say to Shane, as I say to the honourable member and as I say to the House, that this government has been taking action since 28 February to ensure that our nation deals with this very difficult international situation in a way which makes sure that Australians have confidence that they have supply and that the supply that comes to Australia is distributed to them. That's what we've been doing.

The honourable member talks about petrol prices. We've always said, as my predecessors have said—it has long been the situation for energy ministers and treasurers who consistently say it because it happens to be true—the biggest impact on petrol prices will be oil prices internationally. That will always be the case, and oil prices are high for pretty obvious reasons. That would be the case regardless of who is in office.

In relation—the honourable member put a lot into the question, to be fair! In relation to service station updates, I've been giving those each day—more than happy to do so. I would point out to the House that every state has an app or a website where service station information is available, and every state collects that as a matter of law. If honourable members want to argue for a national system; that has been tried before—and I seem to recall who was for it and who was against it.