Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

The Albanese Government's failure to manage fuel supply and distribution, resulting in fuel shortages and service stations running out of fuel, adding to the cost of living pressures already being faced by Australian families and small businesses.

If ever you had an example of incompetence from a federal government, you have it right now from the Labor Party here in Canberra. We're heading into what will be the fourth week of a crisis in the Middle East. The failure to prepare, the failure to act in those very first days and weeks, means that Australians who are already saddled with real wages going backwards and mortgage rates going through the roof because the government can't get their spending profile under control and because of the weak economic settings from Jim Chalmers and the cabinet led by Anthony Albanese—Australians are already subjected to cost-of-living pressures that are unprecedented. On top of that, we are unable to respond appropriately to events, dear boy, events, and to issues that are of a global consequence and the geostrategic challenges we are seeing from the war in the Middle East.

What was this chamber told? What were Australians told in the first two weeks? 'We have all the supply you need. Stop panicking. Stop behaving like rational human beings. When you know something is going to be in short supply—something that you need to function as a family, a farmer, a fisherman or a truckie—don't rush out and buy it.' Of course they rushed out and bought it.

The minister stood up here day after day on questions from the National Party and the Liberal Party about what they are doing to help Australians through the crisis. We were told there was nothing to worry about. What did they do? Jim Chalmers wrote a letter to the ACCC. Chris Bowen, who's supposed to be the minister in charge, can't tell us where the supply gaps even are. They're relying on Facebook and frustrated Australians calling in when there is no diesel or no petrol and when service stations are shut.

What's going to happen? It's not just that prices have gone through the roof and that families are struggling with the cost of living. It is that farmers are unable to plant and unable to harvest. Fishermen are not going in. Banana crops are going to be ploughed into the ground because it is more expensive to get them on the back of a truck to Woollies and Coles distribution centres in Brisbane than it is to let them fall and rot on the ground. The trucking industry has pleaded with the government to do something. They're already operating on thin margins. They're having to pass through the largest cost increases in diesel they have ever seen. Even during the Ukraine war, diesel only increased 40c a litre. We have seen it up 80c a litre, and it's climbing. Australians are rightfully concerned.

And what do we know this government hasn't done? The minister refuses to use the powers available to him to intervene in the market and make sure much needed fuel gets to where it's needed to keep trucks on the road, primary producers producing and our mining and fishing industries doing what they keep doing. They've stalled their commitment to biofuels and ethanol production, something which could have actually assisted with increasing supply. We have two states that already have a commitment to putting ethanol into the fuel supply system. We could increase the supply of clean fuel into our transport industry instead of rushing, as the minister has, to actually ensure dirty fuel is available.

And didn't they make a big song and dance about the 100 million litres of fuel being available? That sounded like a big number to Australians. However, we need 135.6 million litres of fuel to operate in this country every single day. The government's not doing enough and Australians deserve better.