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

Obviously, the issue in regard to the fuel crisis continues on in the seat of New England. In fact, it continues on in regional Australia. I was just on the phone then to Ben Clifton from Transwest. They still can't get access to product, and, in some instances, the nuances and legalities of arriving mean they turn up with multiple trucks and get turned away. We have Ben Clifton and others coming down tomorrow. They'll have a meeting with the minister for energy and resources and then, hopefully, later that afternoon or the next day they'll meet up with the Treasurer. It is vitally important that the ministers within the government hear from the people on the ground, especially those who are in the independent sector dealing on the spot market.

I have been working as best as I can with the government—because we've got to put parochialism aside on these things—in regard to legislation and dealing with mitigating risk in such a form as you can bring fuel in here and encourage people to go into the spot market, especially in Singapore, and purchase product. When a tanker leaves, there can be up to 250 million litres on it if it's a large tanker. That's an awful lot of money. If the market goes against you, it could send you broke. I want to compliment the government on their actions thus far. We've got something done. We've got a lot more to do. I look forward to being a positive force in bringing that about.