Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise to support the bill before the Senate: the Treasury Laws Amendment (Doubling Penalties for ACCC Enforcement) Bill 2026. We have been imploring the government, the Liberal Party and the National Party now, for over three weeks, to take action to assist Australians in managing what is now a fuel crisis across our country. Let's be very clear. At 4 o'clock today—because this bill will go through the Senate in 35 minutes—let's not pretend that this bill fixes the real problem that Australians have been telling the government they are facing for three weeks now.

Service stations across Australia are not just running dry—they have run dry. In other words, you turn up at a service station in Australia and you may well find out it has run out of fuel. Our truckies are telling us that they are now worried about keeping freight moving across our great country. Our country is a big one. It relies on our transport sector working efficiently. The truckies are saying that they don't know if this will continue to occur. Our farmers could not have been clearer. They have been begging this government to help them get diesel—not since yesterday or the day before but for the last three weeks. Do you know why? Because they have a planting window. If they don't plant during that window, guess what? There are no crops. AUSVEG has been pretty clear. Get the fuel to where it needs to be.

Small businesses across Australia are now saying to the government, 'We don't even know if we're going to be open next week.' On top of that, people across Australia are now cancelling their Easter plans. Why? Because they're already in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, they've just been hit with another interest rate rise and they now see the price of fuel at the bowser, which has hit $3 and is probably going to $4. They cannot afford now to go away at Easter. The government, to every question we ask them, says, 'We understand the pain Australians are feeling.' You've been saying that now for four years; you've done nothing about it and the pain has gotten worse. They say they're taking practical action. Today, I call on Minister Bowen to take this practical action.

The S-Bend service station 30 kilometres south of Geraldton—the only fuel station within a 60 kilometre radius—have said that they are running out of fuel. Yesterday, in fact, they ran out of diesel. This is the practical action that Minister Bowen can take. The government has said that there is more fuel in Australia circulating than there was before the Iran crisis began. Australians understand this. As of today, there is currently more fuel in this country than there was before the crisis. This is the practical action the minister can take this afternoon. The S-Bend—the only servo within a 60 kilometre radius—has run out of diesel. You know where the diesel is. This is what the minister can do right now. It's 3.30 pm Eastern Daylight Time. You can pick up the phone to the companies—because you know where the fuel is; you know where the tankers are—and you can direct one of them to start driving to the S-Bend servo 30 kilometres outside of Geraldton.

Let me also tell you—you want to talk about practical action. Here's some practical action. The waste recycling industry association have been clear, saying, 'We will not be picking up people's rubbish.' If that's not bad enough, they've also said, in relation to the health sector and the aged-care sector, that problems start if rubbish is not being picked up within 48 hours and public health problems will commence. They have been left off the fuel priority list by this government and they have said that is potentially catastrophic. The minister, today, can actually amend the fuel priority list and add the waste collection industry.

This is a government that likes to have meetings when all it needs to do is pick up the blasted phone and call the blasted fuel companies. You know where the fuel is; you're just too lazy and you don't like action. There are two practical things the minister can do: get a tanker, please, to the S-Bend servo near Geraldton and please ensure our rubbish bins are collected.