Fatima Payman (WA, Australia's Voice) Share this | Hansard source

When supply lines are disrupted, Australians pay. If you drive, you'll pay for it at the bowser. In Perth, prices have risen from $1.80 to as high as $2.40. If you don't drive, you will feel it at the supermarket checkout as groceries become more expensive to transport. These price rises were not unforeseeable, however. Fuel refineries across Australia have been closing down for years, leaving us more dependent on foreign refineries and making us more vulnerable to supply chain insecurity. Meanwhile, our strategic fuel reserve, for some reason, is in the United States. Why? Why are we not allowed to keep Australian fuel reserves in Australia? If we want fuel security, we need to have our fuel reserves here in Australia. But, more than that, we need to secure the sovereign capabilities to refine our own fuel. If we don't, Australians will continue to be left vulnerable to international tensions, as we see before us.