Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy. How does the budget strengthen Australia's fuel security and resilience and protect Australians from future energy shocks? What policies would weaken resilience?

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

The member for Bendigo is a champion for rural and regional Australia, and I thank her for the question. The member for Bendigo knows the importance of fuel security for her constituents, and that's why this government has worked so hard over the last 2½ months to ensure that we now have more fuel in Australia today than we did on the day the Iran war broke out.

But this government also knows we need to build for the future. That's why there was a $14.8 billion package for fuel security and cost-of-living relief in last night's budget, and that package has many elements. One of them of importance to rural and regional Australia is the $1.1 billion fund that the minister for transport and the Treasurer and I have announced to support cleaner fuels—that is, biofuels—so that the farmers of Australia can take products like canola and tallow and turn them into fuel, which improves our fuel resilience and is great for Australia's farming sector.

But we also know that there's even more to do, and that's why another element is a $3.2 billion commitment for a strategic fuel reserve owned by the government for the people. That's a key initiative, and that's been welcomed across regional Australia. GrainGrowers Australia said:

Establishing a domestic government-owned Australian Fuel Security Reserve demonstrates significant progress …

The National Farmers' Federation have said:

Todays' announcement of a $10 billion Australian Fuel Security and Resilience package is a welcome step toward building the sovereign capability we need to protect our food system.

The Australian Livestock and Rural Transporters Association has said:

The Government has made the right call. A strategic national reserve is long overdue …

And they commended the government for getting it done. These are all rural and regional peak groups that have welcomed a government owned strategic reserve.

I'll tell you who hasn't welcomed a government owned strategic reserve: the Leader of the Opposition, who said, 'They're going to compete in the market with the private sector; that's what this government always thinks—that the government is always the entire answer.' So the opposition—or at least the Liberal Party; I'm not sure about their coalition partners, the Nationals and One Nation—would oppose a government owned strategic fuel reserve and take us backwards.

But it's even worse than that, because we believe a government owned fuel reserve is an important complement to increasing the minimum stock obligations of the private sector. You need to do both. The opposition leader announced he would increase the minimum stock obligation to 60 days and said it was a billion litres. Well, a billion litres gets you to 37 days. They couldn't even get the maths right. Not only would they not have a government owned reserve; their private reserve doesn't add up. It doesn't matter whether it's 800 million or 80 billion; the fact of the matter is that, whatever figure they choose, they haven't done the homework. Their maths don't work. They would weaken Australia's fuel security. They would weaken Australia's resilience, and the Albanese government will strengthen it.