Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Normally, I don't really look forward to doing taking note, but today I'm really enthused, let me tell you. The reason why—and I've just got to explain this very carefully to any poor devil out there listening to this. What is going on in the Middle East is a very serious issue; let's make no mistake about that, and let's hope there's a resolution pretty quickly. But, as someone who has spent a lifetime stuck around diesel fuel pumps, I think we'd better start putting a little bit of truth into the conversation.

I'll go back to a couple of weeks ago. In my duties as a senator for Western Australia, Deputy President, you would know the amount of time that I spend in the Kimberley, and it's huge. I made my living in the Kimberley and Pilbara and in the Northern Territory as a young, very enthusiastic truck driver. There are those opposite who do know, but to the newer ones who don't: shock, horror, I still drive trucks. I still run road trains to the Kimberley, all for charity. In fact, I'll be pulling out on Saturday with three trailers for Broome and Derby. I'll be keeping a close eye when I pull into Port Hedland, where I'll put 1,500 litres into that big banger. That's just in Hedland on the way up. But, if you listened to the contribution from my colleague opposite, who's running the party line, one would think that there is absolutely no fuel in Western Australia—or no fuel in country Western Australia—or in Queensland or in the regions.

But let me come back to going up to the Kimberley two weeks ago, before the war in Iran started. I had my hire car and went into the Reddy, the old Shell express, on Ivanhoe Road. Guess what? Two bowsers were shut—no fuel. There was no war in Iran. Okay, fine. At the other end of the week, I was in Broome. I took the hire car into the BP—you know the BP opposite where you drive into the airport, Mr Deputy President. Guess what? Two bowsers of diesel had no fuel—nothing to do with the war. I'm saying this—it's a very serious issue; I won't speak for your state, whatever your states are—because it's a regular occurrence in Western Australia, where I go regionally and rurally, for bowsers not to have any fuel in them. So let's just get some truth into the argument. I heard my esteemed colleague over there say, 'There's no fuel in the regions. No-one rurally can get fuel.' Seriously? Come on.

Let's have a look at this. For my sins in my previous life, I don't know why but I've had to do two inquiries into fuel security—one in government and one in opposition. I know the arguments around this. One time, and I kid you not—I remember the argument going on when we were in opposition and I was chairing the RRAT committee—the question put to the department of industry was: how much fuel have we got in Australia? They had a guess. They said, 'Twenty-seven days or something like that,' after being told that the IEA says we've go to have 90 days worth. I said, 'Have another crack.' They said, 'We've got no idea, Senator.' And that was fine; they had no idea. But we dug a little bit deeper. I said, 'What are you basing your figures on?' They said, 'It's on fuel that's on ships coming here; we count that.' I said, 'That's great. Anything else?' They said, 'Yes, we also count fuel that we've ordered that hasn't left Japan or Singapore or wherever it may be.' Now, did I get any screaming from the rafters from the mob over there about that? They didn't give a fig. They couldn't give a damn.

What I'm trying to say is our fuel supplies are a very serious issue. From my point of view, because of my trucking background, it's an even greater issue because, when the trucks stop, Australia stops. Make no mistake about that. This mob want to focus on what political point they can make on the way through. So I will state—and I know this is more than when we were doing the inquiry, when I was in opposition—that we have 36 days of petrol. It would be lovely if we had 90 days of petrol. The harsh reality is that we have 36, because we can't have 90, because it would cost us $20 billion, because your lot over there, under Mr Taylor, who is now your esteemed leader, waved off, as part of the government, four refineries here in Australia. Did you know that? We had six refineries in Australia. Following your watch, under him over there, we inherited two. I mean, seriously! We've got 29 days of jet fuel here, with ships on the way. Let's hope there is no disruption to them. We have 32 days of that precious gold that I love, diesel, which they still tell me is running through my veins.

So, seriously, if you're going to have a conversation in the best interests of Australia's trucking industry and our farmers, let's just use some truth, shall we? Let's try not to stretch the bow out as far as we can. Yes, it is serious, but for goodness sake, as the ministers have said, when we have a national drama one would expect we would all work together, not go for the bottom drawer for the lowest common denominator, which is a trait of that mob over there.