Tim Ayres (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Industry and Innovation) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Polley, for that question. The Albanese Labor government is acting to shield Australia from fuel and supply chain shocks—in this case, as the question points out, by giving Export Finance Australia the power to underwrite additional cargoes of fuel and other strategic products, including, of course, fertiliser. The bill to give EFA that power will be introduced into the House today. That additional supply will help address regional shortages and fill critical supply gaps, in particular in fuel and in fertiliser. We are squarely focused on additional supply not just for fuel but for fertiliser in particular. That is consistent with all of the other measures that this government has undertaken, including, I must say, the intervention that the government made into Glencore's copper smelter facility in Mount Isa, which meant that the Dyno Nobel Phosphate Hill facility is not closing in two days time but is continuing to operate as Australia's only current domestic producer of fertiliser products.

We are not replacing or undercutting the operation of the domestic market. We are making sure that private suppliers can secure additional shipments themselves that are otherwise too risky to order. EFA will use its deep expertise in insurance and indemnity, commercial guarantees and loans to de- risk those additional shipments and to deliver supply in fuel and fertiliser terms in particular for regional Australia.