Slade Brockman (WA, Deputy-President) Share this | Hansard source

Labor has not been upfront with the Australian people. The economy is weak. It was weakening before the Iran crisis, and now we see that fuel supplies are simply not secure. What have we heard from key ministers in this Labor government on this fuel crisis? Minister Bowen, the energy minister, said:

We have as much fuel in Australia today as we had the day that Iran was bombed.

Clare O'Neil, the housing minister, said:

… we have the fuel circulating in the economy that we need.

How about Infrastructure Minister Catherine King? You'd think the infrastructure minister would have some interest in how things move in this country. She said:

We've got plenty of fuel in the country.

Today, the first Western Australian iron ore mining company has reduced its operations on the basis of fuel availability. Western Australia's great iron ore industry is now under threat due to the inaction and incompetence of this government. We have heard so many stories from the farming community, from business and from the mining sector—first the gold sector and now the iron ore industry—that say this crisis is real. The government, sitting on its hands, doing nothing for week after week after week, exacerbated and failed to come to grips with this problem. Australians are hurting as a direct result of the inaction and incompetence of this Labor government. The government has lost control. It has no plan.