Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

This government will do everything that we can to shield Australians from the impacts of the global shocks occurring from the war in Iran. What Australians don't need is political leaders creating more doubt and anxiety when people are already worried. People are already worried right now. What we've seen from the leaked talking points from those opposite is that one of their political tasks is to sow doubt into your minds about what's happening with fuel right now. That is an absolute shame on them. People are already worried, and their job, their political task, is to go out and make people more worried. I think that is absolutely shameful right now. On this side of the chamber, and on the government's side of the chamber in the other place, we will do everything that we can to shield Australians from the global shocks. We will stand up for Australia's interests, whilst those opposite only stand up for their own political interests.

The second thing that I would say is that we have a National Fuel Security Plan so Australians can see what the forward plan looks like. The plan has four levels. The first level is 'Plan and prepare', the second is, 'Keeping Australia moving'—that's where we are now—the third is 'Taking targeted action' and the fourth is 'Protecting critical services for all Australians'. That is the plan that Australians can have a look at.

There are a number of things that we've done right now, in the immediate, in response to the global shocks. We've convened National Cabinet a couple of times now. We've agreed, with premiers and chief ministers, to the National Fuel Security Plan that I've just outlined—the four-point plan. We've halved the fuel excise, saving Australians 26.3c per litre, and paused road user charges for truckies for three months—and we've just heard from Senator Sterle about the importance of the trucking industry.

We've passed new laws to double penalties for petrol companies for false and misleading conduct and cartel behaviour, up to $100 million. We've tasked the ACCC to ramp up fuel price monitoring and issue on-the-spot fines. We've begun the release of 20 per cent of Australia's fuel reserves. We've changed petrol and diesel standards to get more fuel flowing. We've created new trading powers to underwrite shipments of fuel from overseas. We've given the Fair Work Commission powers to demand truckies are paid fairly when fuel prices spike. We've appointed a national fuel supply taskforce coordinator, Anthea Harris. We've created a $2 billion emergency pool to respond quickly to domestic fuel issues.

We've made it easier for Australia's refineries to access government funding when they run at a loss. We've unlocked $2 million in financial counselling funding for impacted farmers. We've deferred the next increase of the heavy vehicle road user charge by six months. We've engaged with international partners, including opening a supply agreement with Singapore. We've engaged with the states and territories on supply and distribution. We're holding a special energy ministers meeting on activating the National Coordination Mechanism, which has met twice.

We are absolutely moving with the urgency this situation demands, deploying a national plan that prioritises security and shields Australians and industry from global uncertainty and shocks.