Jessica Collins (NSW, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

To confirm, I'm rising to take note of answers to all coalition questions. As I was saying, it was very, very telling today. We, the coalition stood up to ask the government about what they are doing about fuel security, about people in the regions who have no access to fuel right now. Fuel pumps are being closed down, and prices are going up. What we got were personal attacks on coalition members. We got fingers pointing to what we were doing—not last term of government but the term of government before. We got Minister Wong asking us what we would do. But we're not the government; they're the government. It's up to the government to be helping these poor Australians with their fuel security right now, and these people are feeling insecure because they have no access to fuel out in the regions.

My colleague Senator Hume made the point that higher petrol prices are now compounding the pain for families already suffering under Labor's homegrown cost-of-living crisis. We've got higher mortgages, higher electricity bills and higher grocery bills. This all happened long before the conflict in Iran. You cannot put the blame on the conflict in Iran. Senator Hume asked why the government has spent three years fuelling inflation, weakening household budgets and leaving Australians now dangerously exposed to this kind of shock, this fuel shock that is hitting this nation. Senator Hume asked: what is Anthony Albanese, our prime minister, actually going to do to bring prices down? And what did we hear from the government? 'It's not our fault there's price gouging.' There is absolutely no admission of responsibility for putting Australians through this cost-of-living crisis and setting them up to be vulnerable when we are hit with an external shock like this.

We had some terrific questions from my colleague Senator O'Sullivan. He pointed to communities in his home state of Western Australia where fuel is being rationed and pumps are being shut down. We heard from the government, from Minister Wong, that there is no supply problem; it's only a demand problem. She put the blame on ordinary Australian for being scared, and she put the blame on the opposition for scaring ordinary Australian. All we're doing is asking what the government is going to do about this. I think it's a very valid question. How are they going to make sure that this fuel is redistributed to the places that it needs to be?

According to the government, there are no supply issues. We heard from Western Australian roadhouse owner Scott Coppin that there are 10 to 15 cars lining up trying to get fuel and filling up jerry cans every day. He said it was like a scene out of a movie. He'd had never seen it before in his whole life. We heard from the government that this was misinformation and disinformation. But this is the reality for people out in the regions right now: they cannot get access to their fuel, and the government is doing nothing about it.

We heard from Senator McDonald about Mount Gravatt. They've run out of unleaded 91 and unleaded 95 right in the heart of Brisbane. I used to live just down the road from Mount Gravatt—I know exactly where it is—about 10 minutes from Mount Gravatt, at Eight Mile Plains. It is a terrific part of the world.