Jim Chalmers (Rankin, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Today the Albanese Labor government is introducing the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026.

This bill will deliver temporary and targeted support to Australian motorists and truckies in a responsible way.

The war in the Middle East is battering the global economy.

Supply chains have been disrupted, equity markets have been volatile, and inflation is creeping up across the globe.

Oil prices today are around twice what they were at the start of 2026 as a result of the conflict.

All of this is flowing through to prices at the bowser, and Australians have been left picking up the tab.

That is why we are taking steps to help shield them from some of the impacts of this war.

As the Prime Minister and I announced yesterday, this bill will temporarily halve the fuel excise for petrol and diesel and facilitate changes to the heavy vehicle road user charge to allow for it to be reduced to zero temporarily. And here I pay tribute to the transport minister for her work in this regard.

Halving the fuel excise will cut 26.3c a litre off the cost of petrol and diesel.

Including the reduction in the GST component, this will cut the cost of a 65-litre tank of fuel by nearly $19.

Reducing the heavy road user charge to zero will save truckies around $130 on a 400-litre tank of fuel.

This decision has been welcomed by the trucking industry, with the Australian Trucking Association saying, 'It is the lifeline that small trucking businesses need.'

This temporary support will come into effect from tomorrow, but it will take a week or two to flow through to retail prices, and it will end on June 30.

Australians understand that this is a short-term measure to deal with immediate and pressing challenges.

The scheduled six per cent increase in the road user charge will also be deferred by my colleague, and we have called on relevant states to reflect this delay in their registration fees.

By calibrating these measures in a temporary way, we will provide relief while also taking some pressure off the economy more broadly.

Treasury estimates these steps may reduce headline inflation by half a percentage point through the year to the June quarter.

And while it will incur a cost to the budget, the overwhelming majority of Australians, I think, will see this as money well spent.

This bill will also grant the minister for transport powers to vary the heavy vehicle road user charge for the next two years, where necessary.

This will ensure the minister has more flexibility to make temporary changes, allowing the heavy vehicle road user charge to be reduced to zero for three months from 1 April 2026 to help truckies and the transport industry.

Following discussions at National Cabinet yesterday, the states and territories have also indicated that they are willing to give back some of the extra GST revenue that will flow from higher fuel prices.

There are some complexities around how to put that undertaking into effect.

While discussions with the states and territories are ongoing, the bill also provides additional flexibility to make further adjustments to the rate of excise if needed to give effect to this undertaking from the states on GST. And I thank them for it.

The steps we are taking in this bill today are in addition to all of the actions we have already taken to date, including:

Our message to Australians is clear.

We hear you, we know you are under pressure and we are working to make your life a bit easier right now in the face of all of this global economic uncertainty.

The global situation is changing rapidly, but Australians can be assured their government's focus is on easing the cost-of-living pressures in the most responsible way that we can, securing our fuel supply, and getting it where it's needed most.

For all of these reasons, I commend this bill to the House.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm happy to stand in support of this legislation, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026. If you think about Australians looking at the environment of global uncertainty right now, they're looking at global economic conditions; they're looking at, of course, conflict overseas; they're looking at the supply chain factors which have been underestimated by their government; and they're looking, frankly, at the future with a sense of anxiety and concern about where our country is heading, particularly because we had an inflation fire that the government was pouring debt petrol on even before this conflict. The government should have snuffed out the fire of inflation. Instead, they continued to feed it through debt spending. As a consequence, we are going into a very difficult period in our nation's history, weaker than we should be, with inflation that is persistent and undermining and not just corroding wages but leading to spiralling costs, particularly for small businesses and the self-employed, who are heavily exposed to rising costs and already struggling to make ends meet.

We have Australians going to supermarkets right now, and they're getting out their red basket or their trolley and wondering whether they can afford the items they need to support themselves and their families, particularly in the lead-up to Easter, traditionally a time of bounty inside a family—and certainly people wishing to do so. We have seafood trucks which are struggling to make ends meet to be able to get food to consumers at a price they can afford. Of course, Australians are going to supermarkets and other small businesses that they want to support, expecting to be able to afford to buy the food that they would ordinarily provide for their family, and there's a big question mark around that.

Against that backdrop, every bit of inflationary pressure is forcing the hand of the Reserve Bank. It now looks like the government are daring the Reserve Bank to increase interest rates, rather than what they should be doing, which is snuffing out the inflation fire as best they can. We've already had one interest rate hike this year as a consequence of data from last year. I think most people are now expecting it to increase, tragically. Yesterday, Westpac talked about three potential interest rate hikes this year alone. The response from a responsible government would be to turn around, turn down the dial of inflation and take the pressure off the Reserve Bank to force up interest rates. They've done the reverse. They're continuing to pour debt petrol on the inflation fire and daring the Reserve Bank to a fourth and, dare I say it, possibly a fifth rate increase.

This is the problem of the fuel crisis Australians are living right now. If it were just in isolation, it would be enormously problematic for Australians. If it were just a fuel crisis for a moment against calm economic waters domestically and internationally, Australians would still be struggling with the situation, but they'd be going into it with confidence in the future for themselves and their families, for their small business or family business or if they were self-employed. But instead they're going into this crisis where the government has created a backdrop that, unfortunately, does not give Australians the confidence they need right now, even more so in the lead-up to Easter.

What we know is that the government has fundamentally misdiagnosed and misunderstood the scale of the challenge faced by the Australian economy from events overseas—not just from the inflation problem that preceded it. I remember being here only less than a month ago, watching the Minister for Climate Change and Energy say that there were no problems around fuel stocks, and then, within three days, he declared a national crisis. I remember the Minister for Climate Change and Energy saying there was no problem around fuel stocks; then saying, three days later, there was a national crisis; then, within a few weeks, boasting that there's more fuel in Australia now than there was at the start of this crisis; and only then, within about another three days, turning around and saying, 'We're now going to consider rationing.'

This government is not in control of the situation before the Commonwealth. It does not understand the consequences of what it is doing. It does not seem to understand how supply chains work. It does not understand the essential input that fuels and liquid fuels have in the health of the economy and their impact on not just industry but also ordinary Australians. The only people who will pay, through higher prices and higher costs are, of course, ordinary Australians.

When we, the opposition, put forward a proposal to cut fuel excise, we understood that, if the government just rushed ahead and did it, it risked being inflationary. We understood from their energy rebate schemes, which they said weren't inflationary but proved to be inflationary despite the economic denial by all of the PhDs on the other side of this chamber that they claim give them brilliant insights, that, if you put these sorts of mechanisms in place without offsets, then you will get inflation. The government has followed the opposition's calls for a fuel excise cut and a reduction in the road user charge, despite the misleading comments from the Treasurer yesterday in question time, as was clarified by the Leader of the Opposition following question time. We always understood that the most important part of introducing those measures was to make sure that they were not inflationary, so we offered offsets as a condition of our proposal because, if we were going to give Australians excise relief, we didn't want to give with one hand today only to take more from them in the future with the other. What it's revealed is the economic model of the Albanese government: stoke inflation so you can then tax the inflation. While that happens, Australians get poorer and standards of living decline—all to the benefit of those who want to control the Treasury's purse, because it gives them more control and power over Australians' economic lives.

So we offered non-inflationary offsets; the government has not. The government has chosen a path where they are increasing the costs on Australians and Australian households, today and into the future. Along with other measures and other things going on with the economy, it is a really distressing situation where we are increasingly seeing a real upward pressure on inflation, on a scale that I have rarely seen in my adult lifetime, particularly in light of the fact that we have not just had a global pandemic. We proposed an excise cut of 50 per cent and a change to the road user charge, but we offered inflation offsets; the Albanese government has given no inflation offsets for its excise relief. Everything that they are giving Australians today, they are going to take from them in the future. More importantly, this will come with declines in living standards and, of course, higher taxes. Under the Albanese government, there is plenty of fuel for the inflation fire, just not for farmers and families.

What we need is a responsible government, not a government that is always playing catch-up. We need more than just the rhetoric and seeing them chase themselves around to try and prove their relevance in the middle of a national crisis. Australians need hope. They need leadership. They need a leader who isn't just the last. The Prime Minister is always the last to lead, because his government and his Treasurer don't understand the circumstances they face. And, even worse than that, we've seen the Minister for Climate Change and Energy clearly misunderstanding his role and the impact his decisions are now having on the Australian community—there is no other way you could have gone from having no problem around fuel to declaring a national crisis, to saying there's more fuel than there was at the start of the crisis, to now saying that we're going to have to consider rationing as a nation.

Australians need confidence, particularly for small and family businesses and the self-employed, who are looking at the landscape right now and saying, 'We do not know how we are going to keep things going.' We have record small-business insolvencies in this country and we're on track to exceed that record this financial year. They're looking at the future with increasing trepidation and concern about the costs that are rising while the revenue is declining. They need confidence and hope, and what they need is a government that actually understands them and wants to back them in. Instead, what we have seen every step of the way is a government that has sought to rig the rules in favour of big companies against small ones, big business against small businesses, big unions against small businesses, big capital against small businesses—and, of course, against Australians, because they don't want to empower Australians to be able to live out their own lives and make decisions to control their own destiny.

Now is the time the government must lead. Now the government needs to understand the full consequences of the measures they're introducing across the board—not just this one. At the end of it, the more their economic model is exposed, their model which is to inflate the economy and then tax the inflation, Australians are going to continue to fall further and further behind.

With that, I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"the House notes that:

(1) the reduction in fuel excise and corresponding reduction in the heavy vehicle road user charge reflects a policy first proposed by the Opposition;

(2) the Government initially denied there was a fuel supply problem in Australia and, by delaying taking action to ensure distribution of fuel to where it was needed, exacerbated price pressures and supply shortages;

(3) the Government delayed acting on cost of living relief despite mounting pressure on Australian households, small businesses and transporters;

(4) the Government has failed to provide any budget offsets or outline how this measure will be funded, increasing the risk of additional inflationary pressure where the only fuel guaranteed is for inflation, not for farmers or families;

(5) within 24 hours of the announcement, the Government's proposed GST arrangements have already fallen into disarray, raising further concerns about fiscal credibility and coordination;

(6) uncertainty remains regarding fuel supply security and the risk of heavy-handed market interventions; and

(7) Australians deserve timely leadership and responsible economic management during this national fuel crisis".

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Is the amendment seconded?

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.

Madonna Jarrett (Brisbane, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  We do live in uncertain times, with the war going on overseas. While that's happening, though, we can't forget that this government continues to focus on looking after Australians here at home as well. Our No. 1 priority remains supporting our communities with cost-of-living relief. This isn't something new; this started back in 2022, when the Albanese Labor government was first elected, and it has continued full steam since then. From tax cuts to $25 scripts, seeing a GP for free and energy bill relief, this government has implemented a lot of changes to help ease the cost of living—we know how hard it's been.

However, as the war rages overseas, we are seeing prices at the petrol pump go up, and there's no doubt that this adds to the anxiety that people are already feeling. If we listen to those on the other side, though, you'd swear that this government was oblivious to that and was doing nothing. But nothing can be further from the truth. Again, we are stepping in to help people with this unexpected hip-pocket hit.

Yesterday, the Prime Minister announced that we'd halve the fuel excise, and this bill will enable this to happen. Following a meeting of the National Cabinet convened by the Prime Minister, the Australian government will now halve the fuel excise on petrol and diesel for three months with this bill, should it pass. The halving of the fuel excise will reduce the cost of fuel by approximately 26c a litre. If you look at what that means for everyday mums and dads with a 65-litre tank in the car, that'll probably cut their fuel costs by about $19. If you're an operator, it'll probably be around $130, assuming you've got a 400-litre tank. Again, let's not forget that the spike in fuel prices as a result of the war in the Middle East is hurting Australians, and this bill will help provide some relief. The halving of the fuel excise will commence from 1 April and run until 30 June.

This bill also provides the government with greater flexibility to give additional relief to the fuel excise and excise-equivalent customs duty rates. When this bill is passed, the Treasurer will be able to determine excise or equivalent customs duty rates to be reduced by more than 50 per cent during the rate reduction period. The bill also waives the heavy vehicle road user charge for three months to support truck drivers in carrying out their essential work. In addition, the government will postpone the next planned increase by approximately six months.

Working through the National Cabinet, the Prime Minister is doing what he can with the states, and our government is supporting what we can to support supply, security and cost-relief measures. While supply is secure for the time being, we are seeing spikes in demand, resulting in pockets of fuel shortages. The energy minister reports on where these shortages are daily. No-one knows when the war will end, so, as the Prime Minister said yesterday, Australians are encouraged to conserve fuel. Maybe carpool, maybe get back on the pushbike, use public transport wherever possible.

I welcome existing moves to cut the cost of public transport. It's a great way to move people around quickly. In my home state of Queensland, the great sunshine state, the former Labor government rolled out 50c fares. That has saved commuters between $20 and $70 per week on average. Not only is it cost saving, but, because it's been rolling on now for quite some time, it is changing consumer behaviour and it is helping people with cost-of-living pressures. These changes continue to today. Recently, we saw Victoria and Tasmania make public transport free for the next month or couple of months, depending on the state.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission, ACCC, will continue to monitor companies for price gouging to help ensure that the low excise rate is fully passed on to consumers at the bowser. We've seen periods in the past where this hasn't been the case, so hopefully the ACCC will be able to step in when people do the wrong thing.

While Australia's fuel supply outlook remains secure in the near term because of the actions of the Albanese Labor government, the longer this war goes on, the more uncertain everything can be. That's why the government continues to act and is acting now, despite what we hear in this House, to prepare and shield Australians. Since the conflict commenced a few weeks ago, the Albanese government has taken some swift action.

We've passed new laws to double penalties for petrol companies that are price gouging, and I'll talk more on that a bit later. We've appointed a national Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator; released 20 per cent of Australia's petrol and diesel fuel reserves, targeted at regional areas; changed fuel standards to get more fuel flowing; and changed diesel standards so Australia's refineries can supply more diesel. We've tasked the ACCC to ramp up price gouging monitoring and issue on-the-spot fines. We've engaged with international partners to keep supply flowing, including securing a supply agreement with Singapore. We've introduced laws to make sure companies pay truckies fairly in this period of fuel price spikes. We've introduced legislation to underwrite the purchase of fuel imports by the private sector. Yesterday, the Prime Minister, alongside national leaders, agreed and released a National Fuel Security Plan.

The Prime Minister, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister Bowen are continuing their engagement with international partners to maintain the steady supply of fuel and diesel shipments to Australia. We will keep Australians informed of these discussions and the progress as further developments arise. The Prime Minister also announced yesterday that the government will be announcing more measures to prepare the nation for supply chain challenges over the coming days and weeks.

As this war rages overseas, it really is upending supply chains, including for fuel, and it is impacting our country. At the end of the day, as we listen to those on the other side accuse the government of sitting on their hands, really nothing could be further from the truth. But I guess the rationale for those opposite is that, if you keep saying it often enough, you might start believing it yourself and to hope that other people might start to believe it too.

As I mentioned earlier, that's not to say there aren't parts of Australia that are facing significant demands and then accompanying fuel shortages, especially with the supply of diesel. But I want to remind the people of Australia and my constituents in Brisbane that the now Leader of the Opposition hid an energy price increase from Australians, deliberately deceiving the Australian public. On this side of the House, we've been transparent about shortages. We face up to the challenges and we act.

Today, I also want to talk about the rise in fuel prices which I've seen in my electorate and which is not isolated. In times of conflict and uncertainty, consumer behaviour changes. It really depends on what people think might happen. One of the most obvious outcomes is hoarding when there's a fear of supply shortages. That might be a real fear or a perceived fear. Remember that during COVID we had the stockpiling of toilet paper. Not everyone did this. Many thought about their neighbours and others and only bought what they needed. We are seeing something similar happening here, with stories of people stockpiling.

Supplier behaviour also changes. Price changes can be initiated in the supermarket or at the pump. Many business owners are honest and absolutely do the right thing. But there is always someone who will look at how they can make a quick buck. Who loses out when that happens? Every single one of us. It's everyone who's trying to buy critical goods for their everyday lives, every parent who's trying to drop their kids off at school or take a sick relative to the hospital and every business that's trying to keep their doors open. Unfortunately, with fuel supply front and centre, it opens the door for grifters in the fuel industry to take advantage. The conflict overseas shouldn't be an excuse to profit off Australians. I say to those in the industry who are thinking of doing the wrong thing: Don't take advantage. Don't treat the people of Australia and my community like mugs. Just do the right thing. Everybody will benefit in the long term. Frankly, price gouging is just so un-Australian.

I also say to the people of Brisbane: pay attention to the prices and know that the government's on your side, that we won't tolerate you being taken advantage of. That's why we now have higher penalties for those companies that do the wrong thing to a maximum of $100 million per offence. This comes on top of the steps the government has already taken to increase penalties up to $50 million, which is five times higher than what they were. We also gave the ACCC more tools, such as extending petrol gouging monitoring powers and the ability to issue spot fines.

I want to go to the trucking industry, which we know is feeling the pinch of the fuel shortages across Australia. The reason I go to this is that we know that, without trucks, Australia stops. I say to the trucking industry, as I hope you've heard from others in this House on this side of the chamber, that this government is here to support you. We know that our transport industry can only operate if it has access to reliable fuel sources. That's why we're taking practical steps to support the industry. We passed legislation in the House to amend the Fair Work Act to allow truckies and road transport businesses to make an emergency application for a contract chain order to deal with the current spike in fuel prices. A contract chain order is a little convoluted, but it simply means they can negotiate a fair deal to keep their trucks moving. Currently, there is a minimum of approximately six months for these orders to happen and, with the passing of the legislation, that waiting time will be removed. What this means is that truckies and transport operators won't be left to worry about managing rising costs on their own. It's just so important to support those who move our goods around the country.

But it's not just the truckies that rely on fuel. Think of all those industries and sectors that will be impacted if we can't be moving goods and services and there's insufficient fuel. There's the housing and construction industry. We're trying to build 1.2 million homes over a five-year period. There's also road building, other construction and many local businesses across our communities.

Those opposite have spent weeks talking down fuel availability, at times even fuelling misinformation. They weren't prepared to support Australian truckies getting access to more fuel. You really couldn't make that up, when you think about it. They say that the government sits on its hands, is completely oblivious and is not taking a leadership role. Nothing can be further from the truth. This government has taken strategic, considered and coordinated steps to support our fuel resilience, to maximise supply and to reduce costs to consumers and those who rely on fuel to keep their businesses operating.

We know that there's a lot of anxiety out in our communities associated with the challenges of the war overseas. We know that part of that is due to the cost of fuel, which increases the cost of living. This Labor government hears you. We are acting. It's at times like this that we need to keep Australia moving. That's what this bill does, alongside other measures that this responsible government has taken. I commend the bill to the House.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026. Before I do, I want to say that people on this side of the chamber will make no apology for bringing to the government's attention the seriousness of the issue, particularly in the industries that keep Australia moving and pay for Australia, which are mining and agriculture. The fact that they haven't been able to get diesel and there have been price shocks seems to have been missed a bit by the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. It is our job, as the representatives of our constituents, to bring these concerns to the attention of the parliament and the government. That's exactly what we've done.

Australians are under real pressure at the bowser. Families, small businesses, farmers and freight operators are feeling it every day. Any measure that offers that short-term relief deserves to be acknowledged. We acknowledge the government for coming to the party on fuel excise relief, as the opposition suggested last week. A temporary reduction in taxes and charges is not a fuel security policy. It may ease the pain today, but it does nothing to protect Australia tomorrow. It is important, but, as the shadow Treasurer said, for it to not be inflationary, it needs to be offset by some other cuts or some other measures in the budget. We need to make sure that this measure itself is not inflationary. I would have thought that was self-evident. So we responsibly made some suggestions about how this excise tax cut could be offset so as not to be inflationary. I think those are sensible measures. They acknowledge that, before the Middle East conflict even started, which has in large part caused this fuel issue, Australia was under serious inflationary pressure due to government spending.

The events of recent weeks show that Australia is not dealing with a routine price spike. We are confronting a structural vulnerability, one that goes to the heart of our economy and our national security. That vulnerability is set out clearly in the Page Research Centre's report All at sea: fuel, war and Australia's Achilles heel. It is a warning this parliament cannot afford to ignore. I recommend that every thinking person, every person who cares about Australia's future, read this report by the Page Research Centre.

Australia runs on diesel. It doesn't run on slogans. It doesn't run on the government. It runs on diesel. We often talk about fuel as if petrol prices are the whole story, but they are not. Diesel powers freight and logistics across vast distances. It underpins agriculture, mining, construction and manufacturing. It sustains aviation, emergency services and defence operations. Passenger vehicles account for only around 30 per cent of liquid fuel demand in Australia. Around 70 per cent of liquid fuel demand comes from freight, farming, aviation, mining and industry, which rely overwhelmingly on diesel and cannot be electrified at scale in the foreseeable future. So, when the government talks about fuel relief on the one hand and electric vehicles on the other, it is entirely missing the central reality of Australia's diesel dependent economy.

The second reality is even more confronting, and that is Australia no longer produces its own fuel in any meaningful sense. We import roughly 90 to 95 per cent of our liquid fuels. More than three quarters of the supply comes from our region in Asia. We have two operating refineries supplying about 20 per cent of demand. But the argument of how many refineries we've got and what we've got here misses the point that they rely heavily on imported feedstock, mostly crude oil from the Middle East. So, in practice, over 90 per cent of Australia's fuel supply depends on ships arriving safely at our ports. That is manageable only if the world remains calm, shipping lanes remain open and markets function as they always have. But, as we've seen in the last month, that is no longer the world we live in.

The Page report doesn't deal in hypotheticals. It looks at what is already happening. Conflict in the Middle East has disrupted shipping through key choke points, insurance markets have withdrawn cover for tankers, prices have spiked and physical supplies have tightened despite the conflict being thousands of kilometres away. The lesson is obvious: if a distant conflict can rattle Australia's fuel supply, a major conflict in our own region would be devastating. Modern warfare does not require fleets of tankers to be sunk. The credible threat of missiles, drones, mines or submarines is enough to halt commercial shipping, and in those circumstances Australia cannot assume that the market will provide. Markets cannot deliver fuel that cannot physically reach our shores.

Some argue that bigger fuel reserves are the answer, and reserves matter, but they are not the solution on their own. Australia currently holds around 30 days of fuel stocks, far less than many comparable nations. But reserves buy time; they do not restore supply, and, without a credible way to replace fuel once reserves are drawn down, stockpiling simply delays the point of failure. It becomes a countdown clock, not a safety net. That is why a strategy focused on reserves alone gives the illusion of security without delivering the reality.

The core finding of the Page Research Centre, which should have been obvious and has been obvious to people who have sat in this place, is that fuel security is national security. Domestic production is really the only strategy that delivers genuine fuel security—not diversification, not electrification, not modest stockpiles. Only producing fuel at home changes the structure of Australia's risk profile when it comes to fuel security. If Australia can produce a meaningful share of its own liquid fuels, then shipping blockades lose their coercive power, reserves become a true buffer rather than a last resort, defence planning becomes more realistic and our strategic value to our allies increases. Fuel security is not just an economic issue; it's a defence issue, a food security issue and a sovereignty issue.

What does a serious fuel security strategy looks like? Well, the Page report sets out practical framework for action. This is not policy at this point, but it is a valuable contribution to the debate at a time when I think Australia and Australians are starting to look at what we think we've always known, which is that we can fill our diesel tanks of our necessary fleet of vehicles that contribute to not only mining and agriculture—the things that pay for Australia—but also supply chains, getting food to markets and all of these important things, and just hoping that the ship arrives from the Asian refinery is not enough.

Firstly, the research report recommends that we remove barriers to domestic exploration and production. Much of what is required is regulatory clarity and political permission, not necessarily taxpayer subsidies. The markets can do this.

Secondly, we need to expand and modernise refining capacity. Australia's refineries were built for a petrol-heavy economy, and that no longer necessarily exists. The point does need to be made that electric vehicles can take over some of the passenger car fleet in metropolitan areas, and we welcome that. I just think that it should be market driven, not taxpayer-subsidy driven. But obviously there are new and emerging technologies, and people who live in cities and want to embrace that can and should, and this might encourage them to do that. What we don't want is to penalise regional people who need diesel vehicles. We need diesel focused refining capability that matches today's demand.

Thirdly, we need to pursue synthetic fuels at scale; Coal-to-liquids and gas-to-liquids are proven technologies that are already used overseas, and Australia has abundant feedstocks and the industrial capacity to do the same. Fourthly, we need to treat reserves as a bridge, not a destination. We should increase stocks but only alongside a credible plan to sustain supply. Finally, we should treat fuel security as a core national responsibility, with dedicated planning, funding and accountability. None of this is radical stuff. It's pragmatic risk management that any business would do, and it's in the interests of a nation to do it, when looking at sovereignty. It's pragmatic risk management in an increasingly dangerous world.

This brings us back to the government's announcement and the gap in the government's response. Fuel tax relief may help motorists this quarter, and we called for it. I acknowledge that the government has moved in this direction at the urging of the opposition last week, but it doesn't do anything to address Australia's near-total reliance on imported diesel, the vulnerability of maritime supply routes, the collapse of domestic refining capacity and the absence of a credible plan for crisis or wartime fuel supply—and lower prices do not equal secure supply. By focusing on short-term relief without a long-term strategy, the government risks giving Australians a false sense of security. The other issue is that, on its own, a fuel excise cut could be inflationary to an already inflationary economy. That is why the coalition set out a very sensible plan for offsets.

We've got to make a choice about Australia's future, and we've got to acknowledge what we are. We're not a small, resource-poor island nation. We're a vast continent rich in energy, minerals and industrial capability, yet we've chosen policies that leave us dependent on long, fragile supply chains for the single most critical input to our economy. Fuel self-reliance is not isolationism; it is resilience. It doesn't mean ending trade or disengaging from the world. It means securing essentials so Australia cannot be coerced, paralysed or brought to its knees by events beyond our control. It actually strengthens our trade position. It strengthens our strategic value to our allies, and therefore it strengthens our position in an economic sense but also in a security sense.

In conclusion, fuel tax relief might win a headline, but fuel security wins us our future. The current fuel crisis is not an anomaly. It is a warning. If we content ourselves with short-term relief while ignoring long-term vulnerability, the next crisis will be measured not in cents per litre but in days until the tanks run dry. That's not to be alarmist but to think about what could happen to Australia. Everyone in this chamber loves this country; I have no doubt about that. I'm not sure about the other one, but everyone in this chamber loves this country and wants to see it succeed. Therefore, we need to have these discussions about what a future secure Australia looks like.

Fuel security is national security, and Australia can do better in this area and must do better in this area. We welcome the government bringing on the excise cut, but the amendments from the shadow Treasurer are eminently sensible, and I encourage the government to look at them to make a necessary measure in the legislation even better and to make sure that it considers inflation and the inflationary pressures of anything it might do when making a decision, which is why we talked about offsets.

This is a really difficult time for Australia. I worry about what will happen to our industries in the next month. I worry about what's happening to the farmers, who are already talking about reducing the amount of crop they might put in due to fuel issues, but more importantly due to urea supplies, which is fertiliser that comes from gas in the Middle East. I also think that we are about to see, in a real sense, how much our economy and the things that pay for Australia and all of the things that we like—Medicare and all these things—rely on the mining and agriculture industries, which run on diesel. We want to keep those industries going because they pay for the things that we value as a society. They run on that very important thing: diesel. We have to look at fuel security as national security and as part of our sovereign future.

Jo Briskey (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Right now, Australian households are under a lot of pressure. Like many around the world, we are dealing with a sudden, sharp spike in fuel prices that is driven by events far beyond our shores. When global instability pushes prices up here, at home, it is households and small businesses who feel the pinch almost immediately. The view of this government is very clear. Australians should not be left to shoulder the cost of a war on the other side of the world, and that is why the government is stepping in to provide relief. The ongoing conflict in the Middle East continues to send shock waves through global energy markets. International supply chains are severely strained, crude oil prices are incredibly volatile, and today oil is trading at about twice the level it was at the beginning of the year. That severe volatility flows through our domestic system. It shows up, and has been showing up, at the local bowser. It's raising transport bills and, ultimately, the price of everyday goods on supermarket shelves.

Families are watching the numbers on the petrol pump click higher and higher—knowing it eats into their weekly household budget. We know that, for many hardworking Australians, fuel is not an optional extra in their budget. You need it to get to work, to run your small business, to drop the kids off at school and to stay connected to your family and local community. When prices rise this sharply and suddenly, working people feel boxed in. They feel like they simply can't catch a break. That is exactly what this bill, the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026, seeks to address today. We understand how hard it is out there in the suburbs and the regions across our great and vast nation. This legislation gives immediate effect to the major announcement made yesterday by the Prime Minister, the Treasurer, the Minister for Climate Change and Energy and the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. We moved quickly because the circumstances demanded it.

Whilst those on that side of the House focus on advancing their own political interests, we on this side of the House remain focused on advancing the national interest—assuring Australians that we act with purpose and responsibility. That is why the targeted measures contained in this bill are temporary, highly targeted and squarely focused on getting ordinary Australians through a difficult period of intense global disruption. Importantly, we are doing this without undermining our budget discipline or compromising our long-term economic reforms, which are setting Australia up for the future ahead. This bill is carefully drafted and does three distinct and key things. First, it halves the fuel excise for a strict three-month period. Second, it provides direct, tangible and practical support to the critical freight and transport sector. Third, it gives the government the necessary flexibility to do even more if global economic conditions deteriorate further.

Schedule 1 clearly sets out the main fuel excise measure. From 1 April to 30 June 2026, so from midnight tonight, the fuel excise and excise equivalent customs duty on both petrol and diesel will be slashed in half. The current rate will drop from 52.6c a litre down to 26.3c a litre. For motorists, the daily math is pretty straightforward. A typical 65-litre tank of fuel will cost nearly $19 less to fill up. That financial relief is immediate. There's no complex red tape, and there's no waiting for a government rebate to arrive. It applies at the pump, which directly benefits anyone who needs to fill up their car. Whether you live in the outer suburbs, in the regional towns or drive incredibly long distances for work, you will see the benefit. This specific relief does not sit in isolation. It is a core part of our comprehensive and broad plan to ease the financial pressure on working Australians. This measure works hand-in-hand with our tax cuts for every single taxpayer. We redesigned those tax cuts to ensure that middle- and low-income earners receive maximum benefit. Those tax cuts are ensuring that Australians can keep much more of what they earn every single week.

Furthermore, this fuel relief sits right alongside our historic investments into Medicare. We're delivering more free bulk-billed visits to the local doctor when young families need it most. We've established a nationwide network of urgent care clinics so parents can get their kids seen for free without waiting in crowded hospital emergency rooms.

This bill puts a bit of extra breathing room back into the weekly household budget at a time where people are experiencing it rough and every dollar counts. We are providing confidence and relief because we on this side of the House have been steadfastly focused on cost-of-living relief every single day that we've been in office.

This bill also recognises that rising fuel costs affect much more than the individual motorist driving to work. When our hardworking truckies pay more for their diesel, those inflated costs unfortunately bleed into our wider economy. They show up in weekly grocery bills, in crucial building supplies for new homes and in the final retail prices for basic, everyday, essential household items. That is why, for the same three-month period, the heavy vehicle road user charge will be reduced to zero. This move delivers a combined saving of 32.4c per litre for our heavy vehicle transport operators. For a typical large freight truck with a 400-litre tank, that represents a saving of around $130 every single time they stop to fill up. On a long-haul route from Melbourne to Brisbane, those savings rapidly compound, protecting the tight margin of transport businesses everywhere.

Furthermore, we are sensibly deferring the previously scheduled six per cent increase to the road user charge. We understand that new operational costs on our vital freight operators during a time of global energy crunch can only feed the challenge. Supporting our truckies through this time is about keeping our supermarket shelves fully stocked and our retail prices down for everyone. When freight starts costing more, every single consumer pays the final price. We recognise that.

Schedule 2 of the bill gives us essential economic flexibility. It formally allows the Treasurer to legally reduce the fuel excise by 50 per cent while this period of unpredictable circumstances requires it. Global energy markets are volatile and unpredictable right now. Responsible government leadership means always having the right policy tools kept safely in reserve ready to act if and when the Australian people need it. This includes carefully adjusting settings to successfully facilitate states and territories returning additional GST revenue flowing directly from these high oil prices. Schedule 3 ensures the Minister for Transport can quickly make temporary regulatory changes to the fuel tax credits and the road user charge when volatile situations need intervention.

We saw back in 2022 that wholesale prices can change quickly. It can take a short temporary period, usually one to two weeks, for those reductions to fully flow through to the local bowser. This brief delay depends largely on local storage capacity and regional fuel delivery schedules. However, Treasury reliably estimates that this major reduction will directly reduce our national headline inflation rate significantly. Specifically, it could reduce headline inflation by around half of a full percentage point through the critical weeks leading to the June quarter 2026. At a difficult time when global inflationary pressures remain stubborn, that specific reduction is meaningful economic intervention.

Since coming to office this government has acted responsibly to consistently deliver targeted cost-of-living relief while carefully managing the broader national economy. We have methodically delivered more than $114 billion in budget savings and necessary spending reprioritisations across multiple economic budget updates. It is exactly those hard-won disciplined budget savings that have deliberately made adequate financial room for practical and immediate public support, like we are doing today, without irresponsibly adding to long-term domestic inflationary pressure. We are releasing more fuel from our minimum stock obligations, strongly backing our critical domestic oil refineries and significantly strengthening the ACCC to crack down hard on corporate price gouging. The ACCC will rigorously ensure that these vital fuel savings are passed on directly to everyday motorists at the local petrol pump.

Whilst we cannot control international conflicts, we absolutely can control how we respond to them here at home. We are responding by always backing working Australians. We are responding by actively supporting small family businesses. This bill is measured, responsible and an immediate economic response to a global crisis. It delivers real financial relief, it supports our most vital national supply chains and it reliably helps local families balance tight household budgets during these tough and demanding times. I commend the bill to the House.

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

While we support the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026, this looks more like a response to a Newspoll than an appropriate plan for a national crisis. We were told there was no crisis when President Trump initiated this war on 28 February, but I would have thought the appropriate response would have been to convene the National Security Committee and bring the energy minister into that meeting. The advice to government on 28 February would have been about not only the conflict in the Middle East but also the flow-on effects it would have on the supply of fuel into this country and the supply chains here.

I find it difficult to understand how a government—which has a plan now, despite the fact on 28 February the world changed—didn't take or heed the advice of the National Security Committee not just about the military risks but about the supply chain risks that were coming down the line. In fact, they assured us there was no crisis; fuel was going to continue to flow and we had no supply issue whatsoever. The reality was it was different to what we experienced, the lived experience of many Australians. What this government did was work in the superficial. It made sure that fuel went to the big service stations in capital cities so that there was calm and there was no need for panic buying, and so Australians thought there was no issue. Underneath that, the reality was they forgot about the real supply chains that underpin our economy, and that comes from regional Australia.

What they didn't understand was the secondary wholesale markets that supply regional Australians. The big four don't supply regional Australians—not only our service stations but also our farmers—with bulk supplies. The distributors, who go out on farm and put fuel into the tanks on farm to allow machinery to be able to operate, had their supply constrained. What these big fuel companies, the big four, were doing was supplying these smaller distributors and their pricing—for many of those they actually pay the price of the monthly average of the month before. What the big four were saying was: 'We are going to actually withhold supply out of the market because what we're worried about is another price shock. If President Trump stops dropping bombs and there's a drop in the price, we will hedge against that drop. We will constrain the amount of supply we put out into the market so that we don't lose as much money, even though we are making money on the way up.' That is what was happening to the distributors across my electorate. They were being turned away at the Port of Brisbane; they were unable to go and get that fuel and take it out on farm. That was where the Treasurer and the ACCC and this government were asleep at the wheel, because they worked on the fact that as long as fuel was going to the service stations in capital cities, it would all be okay. Australia will be calm. But the reality is that if you don't have fuel, you don't have food.

This government have been exposed for not having a plan since 28 February, when they should have had advice not just about the military impact this would have but also the supply chain impact. If they didn't, they need to tell us why they didn't think about it.

The reality is when the market out in regional Australia was being constrained by these big four in holding back supply, not only was this about a commercial decision of hedging against a price shock of the price going down but I would have thought it would have been a trigger for the ACCC to say, 'If they are constraining supply, they are pushing up prices.' And the farmers were seeing that was pushing up prices straight away—if they could get fuel! The fact the Treasurer did not twig to this shows he didn't understand the market, but he had an energy minister who was oblivious to all of this.

The galling part of this was that you had an energy minister that was also oblivious to the powers he had and to what was at his fingertips—from 28 February, when the bombs started dropping in Iran, what he had available to manage the situation. Because of legislation that we put in when we were in power as a coalition, he actually had at his fingertips, at his disposal, the knowledge of where every litre of fuel was in this country. He could have known exactly where it was and where there were shortfalls and where fuel was not being delivered, particularly in regional Australia. What he also had was the power to lean in and ensure that that fuel was being distributed to where it needed to be. We were assured there was no supply issue; this was a distribution issue.

I would have thought that the advice to the government from the National Security Committee on 28 February was that these contingencies needed to be wargamed, these contingencies needed to be worked through, because this would have a serious impact on Australia's supply chains. If we learnt nothing from COVID about toilet paper—I would have thought fuel would have been one of those commodities that a conflict in the Middle East would have triggered National Security Committee to say, 'We might have a problem, Australia. We might need to manage this supply.'

Two weeks later the government decides, 'Yes, we'd better do something about this. What we'll do is we'll come to parliament and we'll increase the penalties from the ACCC—up to $100 million for those companies that were undertaking anticompetitive behaviour.' Well, penalties are not the issue. The ACCC could have and should have already started an investigation into the secondary wholesale market, but they too seem to be asleep at the wheel. They too don't seem to understand the fuel market enough to have already leant in and to have started an investigation to make sure that, when they drove past a fuel station, prices went up straightaway, particularly when they could get on any app and look anywhere in Australia, including regional Australia. They may not have understood. They could see that there was issues, but then the supply issues would have been something if they understood the market, if it was being constrained—someone was constraining it if we didn't have a supply issue. You can increase the penalties, but, if the ACCC aren't doing their job as they should, then they're not worth the paper they're written on. I've got to say regional Australians have become very cynical about the effectiveness of the ACCC. They see them as being as effective as the Bureau of Meteorology.

That is the reality of the lived experience and the frustration and the fear that regional Australians are feeling out there because we do not have our fuel. Our farmers are not able to turn an engine. For some farmers in my own electorate, the only fuel they had on farm was what was left in their tractors and headers. They had nothing in supply, which meant they couldn't turn them on. They couldn't harvest. They couldn't sow. That is going to have a flow-on effect on each one of us—when the food doesn't turn up in your supermarket. Lo and behold, the government realises maybe we do have a supply issue and a distribution problem.

Despite the fact that the minister had at his fingertips from 28 February, when this crisis started, the knowledge of exactly where the supply was and where it needed to go, and he had powers to move that fuel, he did nothing. He has sat on his hands and watched this transform. Lo and behold, the Prime Minister had to step in and take over because the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has been shown to be incompetent in managing a crisis. Despite the warning signs, despite what should have been said at National Security Committee—advice of the threat to our supply chains of something as serious as a conflict in the Middle East, as serious as keeping the fuel flowing into areas that keep our economy going in terms of not only food but also resources to be able to get to a port and to pay the bills.

This is a government that is now trying to catch up. They're having to catch up because they didn't appreciate the gravity or severity of the crisis that was in front of this country. And I suspect they were advised of that. I have every confidence in our agencies and that that advice would have been provided to this government from 28 February on. Our agencies are some of the best in the world in giving that advice—in wargaming exactly what this would mean for our country and for our economy, particularly after the lessons of COVID and toilet paper. For something as serious as fuel, I find it galling that now we have a catch-up about a supply issue.

First there's no crisis; then there's a crisis. Then we're going to send in the ACCC, who you wouldn't trust to actually pull any of this into line because they didn't understand the market—the regional market that's driven by wholesalers. They could have rung any one of these fuel distributors in regional Australia, and they would have got a lesson in the fuel market in less than five minutes. If the ACCC was really over their job and had leant in to make sure they freed up that supply, they would have underwritten, from the very start, the fuel prices—the fuel being bought—so that it could be distributed into regional Australia. That's the lived experience of what's happened when you have farmers without it. But you also have towns without it.

I live near Clifton. They've already mandated how much fuel you can take. They've taken us down to 40 litres; 40 litres is all you can take. The next service station is 80 kays down the road at Texas, a town of 800 people. It's 80 kays to the closest town down the road, so you've got to drive 80 kays to get fuel. It's not like the capital cities, where you can drive down to another suburb and you can fill up. These are people that rely on this for their wellbeing, not just their livelihoods. You had a government that didn't understand supply chains and didn't understand regional Australia. Quite frankly, it seems as though they didn't care that you have people in regional Australia—a town of 800 people—without fuel.

Allora, just down the road from me, is without fuel. Bartranz, a local distributor, was trying to fill up headers for sorghum to be harvested and couldn't get supply. They were turned away from getting any supply at the Port of Brisbane. This is the stark reality of the lived experience of Australians at the moment. This is a government that hasn't understood their responsibility nor the gravity of what has happened. While we're sitting here and we say we're doing a lot, let me tell you, for three weeks regional Australia has been on fire, because it looks as though this government does not care and has not thought about them in the contingency of a world event that is reshaping the globe but is also reshaping this country.

They haven't understood the gravity nor understood the importance of what regional Australia does: how we feed you and how we pay your bills with sending iron ore and coal out on a boat. If we can't get it there, it doesn't happen. This is where there has to be an appreciation, too, of the transport sector—the heavy transport sector. This industry is the essential lifeline keeping this country going. Our trucking industry needs to be protected in this. These small family businesses that have had the courage to use their own sweat and their own wallets to have a go, to put trucks out there and to get your food from a paddock to your plate, are now on their knees. They're on their knees.

While this is an initiative that we support, it is weeks late. These men and women who are carting your food have been going broke because there hasn't been an understanding of their importance in our country's economy and our supply chains. You in metropolitan Australia have the convenience to turn up to a supermarket knowing that it's just sitting there on a shelf. This is a big awakening for Australia to make them understand how important regional Australia is, how important our supply chains are and how important it is that, if you get advice, you don't work superficially to only look after people in capital cities. Ultimately, if you don't have us you don't have food and you don't have an economy.

That is the stark reality that regional Australians have had to face up to from a government that should have had advice on 28 February, not a couple of weeks down the track. I find it appalling that this government did not act after 28 February, that they did not see this coming at them like a freight train. There is no way in the world that that advice was not given to them. Instead, when the minister had every tool at his disposal, he knew where every litre of fuel was and I don't think he asked for it on 28 February. I think he thought, so long as it turned up to a city servo, it was all okay, all hunky-dory. Everyone will be calm. Everyone will do okay out of this. But the fuel stopped going into those secondary markets, and you've got a Treasurer that didn't understand what he was asking the ACCC to do.

I've written to the Treasurer about this. Let me also say what the ACCC—it's predatory behaviour of the big four fuel companies. I have them in my electorate going to these smaller distributors, picking the eyes out of their market—picking them out of them—and saying to these customers, 'These small distributors can't supply to you anymore, so start writing a contract with us.' That's the abhorrent behaviour that has been created because the government hasn't used the tools nor the powers at their disposal from 28 February on.

That is what regional Australians and small family businesses who were in that secondary wholesale market are now facing: predatory behaviour from the big four service stations. That's what they are doing to us out there. It'll all be great for a while. But you know what? They'll get sick of us and they'll go back and they'll retract to the city, and you'll have nothing in regional Australia.

This is the price we are going to pay. This is the legacy that will be left by a government that didn't heed the advice, was asleep at the wheel and allowed Australia to effectively stop. This is catch-up by a government that's been driven by Newspoll rather than its responsibility to stand up and protect Australians and to understand the importance of regional Australia and the supply chains we provide to every Australian. This is a day of shame for this government. They have finally been shamed into doing something instead of being ahead of the game. That shows we've got a government that doesn't understand this country and doesn't understand regional Australia—and we are all paying the price.

Alicia Payne (Canberra, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise in support of the Treasury Laws Amendment (Fuel Excise Relief) Bill 2026 today. I want to begin by acknowledging the concern in our community around what is going on in the Middle East. Of course, what we're speaking about today is the action we're taking to ensure the availability and affordability of fuel, but I want to first acknowledge that what I'm hearing from my community is concern and uncertainty around this war and its impacts. In particular, I met with some people yesterday whose families in Iran have been unable to contact them. People are really feeling concerned about the destruction and loss of innocent life that comes from any war. I want to begin by acknowledging that. The impacts of this are being felt far and wide at the moment, and by all Australians who have been seeing the increase in the price of fuel.

I also want to respond to the member for Maranoa. I want to say that there is not one person in our government who takes for granted the critical role of farmers, truckies and people in regional Australia. We are doing everything we can at the moment to ensure that all Australians have access to the fuel they need. While I represent a city and may not have many farmers in my electorate, I have many farmers in my family and also an understanding of where food and fibre come from, as everyone in this government does. We have been doing everything we can to ensure that our country keeps moving.

I am so tired of this false dichotomy. I know it's what the Nationals need to do, but I am tired of them pretending somehow that we are not listening. I am so tired of the coalition taking every opportunity to create a culture war where there doesn't need to be one. We are in a crisis, and our government is stepping up to address that. We are helping Australians feel confident and to get on with their lives, with their businesses, with taking care of their families and with getting to their jobs, and we've got people over there stirring up fear and confusion. Maybe they should take the message from the last two elections that people want to see their elected representatives taking leadership. There is a time to be statesmanlike and to not try to benefit politically from a crisis.

The latest piece of action that we are taking is to reduce the fuel excise, halving it for the next three months so that every litre of petrol and diesel that people need is going to be more affordable for them. Everyone in this place will have been hearing from their communities about the uncertainty around fuel, the cost of fuel and the impact that that is having. Canberrans are not immune; we have had petrol stations running out of fuel here as well. So this is really a welcome step that our government is taking.

The member for Maranoa was talking about the companies ripping people off—well, that is the other thing we have taken a really strong focus on, making sure we have doubled the penalties for price gouging, as well as tasking the ACCC with very closely monitoring the price of fuel, ensuring that no-one is going to use this to exploit people with this impact on prices around the country.

When fuel prices spike, as they have in the last few weeks, people feel it immediately and they feel it hard. This is part of our government's direct and practical response. It is targeted and it will deliver real relief at the bowser right now. The bill halves the fuel excise and the equivalent customs duty that applies to most fuels, from 52.6c per litre to 26.3c per litre. For the average commuter, that will be the equivalent of about $19 off a standard 65-litre tank of petrol or diesel. This is a meaningful saving for people experiencing price shocks as a result of the war and will be felt by every Australian at the bowser.

The bill also provides the Treasurer with the additional flexibility to go further if required: to reduce the excise or equivalent customs duty by more than 50 per cent, should conditions deteriorate. It means that the government is not locked into a fixed response, as an evolving global situation continues to unfold.

The bill also makes changes to the heavy vehicle road user charge, both increases and decreases, with appropriate flexibility, and suspends the limitations on increases to that charge for the 2025-26 and 2026-27 financial years. Crucially, in practice, what that means is that it has been reduced to zero for three months. That is because we appreciate the role that truckies and trucking have in keeping our economy moving, and this is to ensure that that can keep happening. This is a combined saving for truck operators of 32.4c per litre, 26.3c at the pump, and a further increase in fuel tax credits of 6c per litre that they will receive when they lodge their BAS. For an operator filling a 400-litre tank, that is approximately $130 in savings per fill.

Our changes will give operators breathing room and will mean the whole supply chain breathes a little easier. I welcome the support of the Australian chamber of commerce, the National Road Transport Association and industry groups, right across the country, for these changes.

We've also made clear that we expect fuel retailers to pass these savings on, and the ACCC will be monitoring this closely. As the Treasurer said, if retailers do the wrong thing by Australian motorists and truckies, the ACCC will come down on them like a ton of bricks. We've empowered the ACCC by increasing their surveillance and monitoring powers, and we're increasing the penalties.

The opposition have been loudly claiming credit for this policy. Let's be clear about what actually happened. This government acted decisively, at scale, through National Cabinet, with the states and territories aligned and a fully-costed package that delivers relief without recklessness. Those opposite called for similar measures, but proposed to fund them by gutting Australia's clean energy transition. Their plan would have ended the electric car discount, reversed green hydrogen subsidies and tax credits, and paused the home battery scheme. In other words, they wanted to make Australians more dependent on fossil fuels, as the price of getting short-term relief for a fossil fuel crisis.

Now, if there's anything we can learn from this crisis at the moment, it is that we need to be less reliant on fossil fuels. People, at the moment, who are lucky enough to have an electric vehicle are not worried about where they will get their fuel. This is, if anything, a message that the transition to renewable energy cannot come fast enough. Australia's reliance on fossil fuels exposes us to crises like these. Moving to a renewable future would mean that Australians would be more protected from global oil price shocks. A few years ago, Scott Morrison said that EVs would 'end the weekend', but, clearly, it's people with EVs at the moment who are less worried about their weekends. The policy of those opposite is not serious energy policy. It's an ideological obsession with fossil fuels that would see Australia go backwards.

And let's think about what cutting the EV incentives would mean. Australians are adopting electric vehicles at staggering rates. Total EV sales grew by 38 per cent in 2025, compared to 2024, with more than 157,000 EVs sold. EVs last year reached 13.1 per cent of new car sales, up from 9.6 per cent the year before, which brings Australia's total EV fleet to more than 454,000 vehicles. The Electric Vehicle Council has directly credited the Albanese government's electric car discount as a key driver of this uptake. The government's New Vehicle Efficiency Standard has also seen a huge uplift in the number of models available, which jumped from 56 in 2022 to 160 by the end of last year, including utes and commercial vans. In 2022, there were only two EVs under $40,000; now, there are around 10—and, for the first time, there is even a model under $30,000. That is great news, because it needs to be something that is accessible to all Australians, as people want to be part of the transition to renewable energy.

Just think for a second how much worse this fuel crisis would be if those EVs driving on Australian roads were replaced by petrol or diesel cars: it would only add to it. And, since this war began, demand for EVs has only increased. Carsales's data shows that EV searches nearly tripled from February to March 2026. Australians get it; those opposite are living in the past. Doing nothing is not a choice this government—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. The member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.