Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Hansard source

I doubt the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, is a fan of Chris Uhlmann, but if Minister Bowen bothered to read Mr Uhlmann's columns he might orientate himself towards energy realities rather than indulge in energy fantasies. In his column in the Australian last weekend, Mr Uhlmann wrote the following:

The current Middle Eastern war underscores how the world really works and what fuels it runs on.

…   …   …

… the world runs on hydrocarbons. … The troika that delivers more than 80 per cent of the world's primary energy is still coal, oil and gas. Energy security is essential and green energy an aspiration.

…   …   …

Energy security is national security, and Europe is an energy vassal. That Australia is determined to mimic it is an act of supernatural stupidity.

Chris Uhlmann is right. Australia is a diesel economy, and Australia is particularly exposed to the events in the Middle East. We import nearly all of our crude oil and refined products. We sit at the end of a long supply chain. Without fuel, our farmers, miners and fishers are brought to a standstill. Without fuel, the trucks that are transporting food, pharmaceuticals and supplies will stop moving. Without fuel, our rural and regional areas are at risk. Without fuel, small businesses around the economy will be hamstrung. We're already hearing reports of serious fuel shortages in regional areas and even in cities. There's been panic buying and there's been rationing; both are amplifying supply issues and price increases.

What is Minister Bowen doing? He has plenty of reassuring words, but reassuring words simply don't cut it. Australians need reassuring actions from the energy minister. He needs to start pulling levers to address fuel supply shortages and he needs to start pulling levers to keep fuel prices down, but Minister Bowen is not using the powers at his disposal; he is procrastinating. Australians might start asking this question: does the energy minister want a national fuel crisis?

We know that Minister Bowen is a prophet of net zero ideology. We know that Minister Bowen romanticises green energy. He would love nothing more than to see Australians moving out of petrol cars and driving imported Chinese EVs. You can almost see Minister Bowen standing up and saying, Keating-esque, 'This is the fuel crisis we had to have'. But Minister Bowen would be ignoring a crucial fact. EVs account for only two per cent of all cars on Australian roads. It's incumbent on Minister Bowen to stop indulging in his green utopia, which is a dangerous delusion. EVs haven't lessened fuel dependency, nor will they well into the future. So much of our economy and so many of our industries rely on diesel fuel. That is a fact. Australia is a diesel economy. Energy is the economy. Energy is security. It's time for Minister Bowen to accept that reality.

The late, great Senator Jim Molan often spoke about the need to shore up Australia's fuel security. Indeed, national security experts Peter Jennings, Michael Shoebridge and Marcus Hellyer recommended urgently building our onshore national fuel reserves. They wrote:

Despite a growing awareness of the fragile supply chains that support Australian fuel needs, there has been limited government and corporate action to address this fragility. Instead, Australian refineries capable of producing these essential fuels have been closing, leaving only two refineries in operation.

The choice for Minister Bowen is clear: develop our sovereign energy sources so we can become self-reliant, or continue to indulge in a green fantasy and make Australia energy dependent on countries like China. Only one of those paths leads to a future made in Australia.