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

Senator McGrath asks for an outline of what the government is doing to boost fuel security in this nation. He doesn't need a motion in the Senate; he just needs to read the newspaper. I appreciate he's had a few things on his mind lately, so I am happy to catch him up on what's been going on.

Yesterday, the Albanese government announced the fuel excise will be halved from 52.6 cents to 26.3 cents per litre. This will take effect from tomorrow, providing relief against peaks in demand for fuel for the next three months. Further, the heavy vehicle road user charge will be reduced to zero for the same three-month period, providing immediate financial relief to the freight industry to the tune of $2.55 billion, reducing operating costs by 32 cents per litre.

On top of this, yesterday we passed a bill to give the Fair Work Commission the power to hear urgent applications to protect truckies and trucking operators from peaks in fuel demand. And on Monday the Prime Minister convened National Cabinet, and a four-stage National Fuel Security Plan was adopted. This is a plan that was adopted by all states and territory premiers and chief ministers, including Senator McGrath's own Premier in Queensland, David Crisafulli.

We've also begun the release of 20 per cent of Australia's fuel reserves. We've changed petrol standards to get more fuel flowing. We've appointed a national Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator. We've tasked the ACCC to ramp up fuel price monitoring and to issue on-the-spot fines to dishonest operators, and more. This is the kind of action you can expect from a serious party of government, not the One Nation tribute band we've seen the Liberal Party turn into. Labor understands the importance of fuel to keeping Australia moving, especially in Australia's most decentralised state, Queensland. Queenslanders depend on reliable fuel supply, not only for cars and trucks but for freight that keeps our state moving. Fuel is what gets our farmers' products to market, keeps emergency services operating and keeps our remote communities connected.

So the concerns of Australians and Queenslanders around global fuel security are real, and this government takes them seriously. What we will not do is treat an urgency motion as a substitute for policy, as Senator McGrath is doing today, or as a reason to run out the tail end of a preselection pitch. What Senator McGrath is not telling the Australian people is that the fuel security issues we now face were a deliberate policy design when the Liberals left office. Senator McGrath, you were the assistant minister to Scott Morrison when you closed our oil refineries in this country. I can't remember how many secret ministries the bloke had. I think it was five, at last count.