Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by coalition senators today.

I do so against the background of the crippling fuel shortages which we are now experiencing all over the country and which all Australians are growing increasingly concerned about. We heard a lot about it today from those opposite. We heard a lot of deflecting and, I might say, a very different story to what we heard during the last sitting period, which was: 'It's all okay. There's nothing to worry about. We've got more fuel than we know what to do with. Don't you worry'—repeat, repeat, repeat. That message seems to have changed a little bit. We now know that, as of Monday this week, the 22nd, some 166 petrol stations across the nation were out of fuel. We also learnt yesterday, in the other place, about the following shortages in three states: New South Wales had 37 stations out of fuel, Queensland had 47 stations out of diesel and 32 with no regular unleaded, and Victoria had 109 stations without one grade of petrol or the other. So the situation seems to have changed dramatically from the last sitting period, when we were told it was all okay, like that meme with the little girl and the fire in the background, where she is saying, 'Nothing to see here; it's all fine.'

But there is another angle to this. For many years, a small group of us in this building have been warning about Australia falling under the grip of a globalist elite. Now that we're looking down the barrel of food and fuel shortages, it's fair to ask, I think, whether or not we're seeing that play out. In March 2026, we're seeing Australia's vulnerabilities offering what may end up being a provocative case study. As I said, these fuel shortages are hitting hard. The escalating Middle East conflict has clearly disrupted the Strait of Hormuz and spiked global oil prices, and we're seeing shipments to Australia cancelled. Panic buying and logistics strain are now real. Farmers are warning of grounded machinery during harvest threatening crops, livestock and transport, and that's not to mention the fertiliser shortages.

Food insecurity, prior to all of this, was already rising. Foodbank's 2025 report showed that one in three households were affected, 20 per cent so severely that they were skipping meals as a result of cost-of-living pressures. The question has to be raised: is this coincidence or is it a convergence of issues? Geopolitical shocks expose pre-existing weaknesses in self-sufficiency, and that's not necessarily a conspiracy. Everything this lot don't like around here is a conspiracy. Yet the timing, amid WEF style global coordination calls, fuels speculation that shortages could actually end up justifying more intervention—things like rationing and subsidies—all for sustainable alternatives or dietary shifts. And I'm going to make a little prediction here, because I like my predictions: if shortages end up widening into winter 2026, we're going to start seeing debates over sovereignty versus global alignment. I notice we had, for a variety of reasons, the EU president attend the parliament today, just coincidently—just because. I know we're talking about trade, but it's funny how it's all happening at once.

Why do I have this gut feeling that I've seen this all before? I feel like I've watched this re-run once or twice. It's starting to sound a little familiar to me. Would it be such a huge surprise if, in the coming months, we started to see—I don't know—work from home mandates, travel restrictions or purchase limits? We're almost expecting to see fuel rations. Would it be such a surprise if, all of a sudden, this was monitored by QR codes and government mandates and apps? Remember, many of us were talking about the day in which people would finally understand what's going on out there when they went to the supermarket and could only buy one steak because they'd already bought one earlier in the week. Here we are in 2026, and who knows? Could this be the great reset?

It's all a bit cynical, though, isn't it? It's probably just a conspiracy theory. Yet we hear that the Yara ammonia plant is off site for two months, and there's a refinery down in Texas at the moment. It's all a bit confusing. Do you know the old joke—these people love their conspiracies when they finally catch up. The old joke used to be: 'What's the difference between a conspiracy theory and reality? Six months.' I think it's about two now, quite frankly. It can't be long before we're going to be 'all in this together'. Remember how we were all in it together, until we didn't do what we were told, then we were all out on our own? Remember that one? Conspiracy theories.

Anyway, in the coming months, I think we're going to see a test as to how this plays out as to crisis management, or whether it is crisis management or we're seeing something very different rolling out, something maybe—hmm, I don't know—a little more transformative. How about that?