Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

In addition to the measures that I've outlined earlier in question time today that sit on top of the measures that the government has been taking over the course of the last 10 days of the crisis in the Middle East, and on top of the fuel security measures that we've taken since we were elected, we have, of course, been talking to farmers groups around the country—all of us who've been engaged in this. The minister has engaged since the beginning of the crisis with the farming, fuel and fertiliser communities. I spent some time talking to rice growers in the Riverina today. That's why we have taken measures this week to direct the ACCC to remove the obstacles to fuel companies working together to direct supply to places like the community that you outlined, which have, of course, suffered in the wake of a series of spikes in the demand that have differential effects across the country. It is more acute in some parts of the country than it is in others. Particularly where retailers are accessing supply on the spot market, that does create difficulties where there are spikes in demand.

The job of all of us in this place—the government's job is to govern and to be accountable for that. I would submit that the job that your colleagues have is to work in the national interest and not set your hair on fire and try and create a sense of panic and crisis which drives some of that behaviour—not all but some of that behaviour. It's about taking responsibility and acting in the national interest.