Corinne Mulholland (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Recent global conflict and shipping disruptions have shown us just how fragile our fuel supply chain can be. We know Australia imports the vast majority of its fuel from overseas, and that is a vulnerability that we simply cannot ignore. I will get to just how we got into that position shortly.

In my home state of Queensland we operate one of Australia's two only refineries, the Ampol refinery in Lytton, home to more than 550 refinery workers. They have been working around the clock to keep up with the current peak in demand. So we thank them for their hard work at this critical time. And supporting the work of our refinery workers are Queensland's hardworking truck drivers and transport operators. Our transport operators have been delivering tanker after tanker of fuel across the country. They have also been feeling the pinch of the spike in demand for fuel.

This government has taken action to help our trucking industry manage the impacts of the Iranian conflict. The government will amend the Fair Work Act to allow truckies and road transport businesses to make an emergency application for an order to deal with the current spike in fuel prices.