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

I move:

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

The need to axe the fuel tax and move the fuel to where it is needed, as Australians are being slugged at the bowser while service stations run dry.

We now know that Mr Albanese has been dragged kicking and screaming to an announcement that the coalition, days and days, ago told the government it needed to do. But the government had its head buried in the sand. We were told that, if we were to ask for government to halve the fuel tax, we were 'hyperventilating'. Well, guess what. We were hyperventilating on behalf of the Australian people who, when they were going to the bowser, if they could find fuel, were actually paying in excess of $3 a litre for it. We were also told that apparently telling the government that Australians are in pain and that they need relief at the bowser by way of a halving of the fuel tax was 'hyperpartisan'. Again, I don't know what hyperventilating or hyperpartisanship are when it comes to standing up on behalf of the Australian people and saying to the government, 'They are experiencing what you are denying on a daily basis.'

For the last five week, this government sadly has had its head in the sand. They are denying what Australians have known now for going on five weeks is their reality. They drive into a servo—870 servos across this country have now run dry. The government doesn't seem to understand what that means. It means they have run out of fuel. If they do find a servo that has fuel, they have to think twice about whether or not they top up their tank. Why? Because the price of fuel in Australia now is absolutely exorbitant. This is what we've seen from the government for almost five weeks now.

First they denied there was a problem, despite the Australian people and the coalition saying to them, 'There is a fuel crisis in this country.' What's worse is that they then had the audacity to blame the Australian people. They said to the farmers, who were actually topping up their tanks: 'You're taking one too many. There's a demand problem in Australia. It's your fault.' They said to mums and dads who were topping up again because they'd lost confidence in this government that it was their fault that bowsers were running dry. When does this government actually have a good look at itself and take responsibility and say: 'We have actually failed the Australian people. We put our head in the sand. We denied there was a crisis. We told the Australian people everything was okay. When we started realising it possibly wasn't okay, we blamed the Australian people'?

We are now in a full blown fuel crisis across Australia. We are now paying record prices for fuel. In other words, mum-and-dad Australia are being smashed at the bowser. You've got doctors saying people are now not going in for medical treatment because (a) they can't afford the fuel and, worse than that, (b) if you're in rural regional Australia, you can't find the fuel. You've got the waste management industry in Australia saying, 'If we don't get access to diesel soon, we aren't going to be able to pick up the rubbish.' Do you know what happens when you can't pick up the rubbish? Within 48 hours, in the health industry, you have what the waste industry themselves have said is 'potentially catastrophic'.

Then what do we have today? Mr Albanese calls a National Cabinet meeting, and they announce a plan. The problem with the plan is this, though: it does nothing to address what Australians are experiencing today—870 servos across Australia are running dry. That means that, when you go there, there is no fuel to take. You have now got farmers pleading with the government, 'We are not going to be able to seed our crops.' The government doesn't seem to understand what that means. If the farmers can't plant their crops, it means the crops can't grow. Do you know what happens when crops can't grow? You end up with a food security issue in Australia, which ultimately means Australians pay more at the bowser. Axe the tax, but, more than that now, get the fuel to where it needs to be because, without the fuel, Australia can't move, and we need to keep Australia moving.