Leah Blyth (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Defence Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

It's always very interesting during question time to listen to this government talk constantly about the coalition and what has been done in the past but not about what they plan to do in the future. I think it's fair to say that, thanks to this government's indulgence in the path to net zero, we now have fuel supply in this country at risk. We've got farmers going to the bowser to fill up their tractors, and there is no fuel for them there. I question this when I think about us going to war. As we heard from Senator Cadell, we certainly have some questions about the carbon neutral scheme, where we've got agricultural land and farmland being bought up so that people can have carbon credits and then we've got farmers going to the bowser and there being no fuel there for them. I wonder why this government isn't doing more for those in our regions who are responsible for food security. I live in a city, and I know that the food certainly doesn't get to the supermarket magically. There are hardworking men and women in our regions who are ploughing and harvesting those fields and getting that food into the cities for us to eat, but they can't do that unless there is fuel.

For three days now, I've sat here with the government telling us that there is no issue at all with fuel supply in this country—that we have 2.97 billion litres of fuel in Australia. But I think it's fair to say that Australians are asking where that fuel actually is because it certainly isn't at the petrol stations. They had a roundtable that—whoops!—they forgot to ask the fishing industry to attend. We've got fishers, certainly in my home state of South Australia, who aren't able to fill up their boats with diesel to be able to go out fishing, because there is no diesel for them to get hold of, so I certainly wonder where this 2.97 billion litres of fuel that Australia has is.

There clearly is a supply issue. When pushed on this, this government will say, 'Well, there's higher demand. We're blaming the consumer.' This is a government that never takes responsibility for anything. This is a government who will point the finger all day long at anyone but themselves. In this case, they're pointing their finger at the Australian people for going out there and trying to fill up their tractors and trying to fill up their cars. It's their fault that the petrol stations have run out of fuel. It's got nothing to do with them. I would say that it is time for this government to start governing. It is hard to govern. It is very easy to point the finger and blame others. It's very easy to stand there and talk about what the coalition did or didn't do.

They have been in government for four years now. There is a crisis in the Middle East, and that crisis in the Middle East was building over a long period of time. It is up to the government to ensure that we have the ability to be able to defend ourselves, and fuel security is one of those really important things that a government should be ensuring that we have. It turns out this government has dropped the ball on that very fundamental need that we have. We only have 34 to 35 days of fuel, diesel and aviation fuel in Australia. We should have 90. That is the international standard. We have about a third of what is recommended for a nation like Australia in reserve. Our whole nation stops.

This is a government that has set IR rules that make it impossible for industry to be able to thrive in Australia. They have set net zero targets that are strangling farmers. It is strangling any kind of industry and business, and then they wonder why, in a resource-rich country like Australia, where we have all the fuel we could possibly need right on our doorstep, we can't refine the volume that we need to. It's because there are only two refineries here in Australia. I say to this government: it is tough to govern, but you need to do better because our national security depends on it. (Time expired)