Steph Hodgins-May (Victoria, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Dean Smith has submitted a proposal, under standing order 75, today, which is shown at item 13 of today's Order of Business:

The Government's preparedness to safeguard Australia's fuel security amid escalating conflict in the Middle East and its impact on Australian families and businesses.

Is consideration of the proposal supported?

More than the number of senators required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

With the concurrence of the Senate, the clerks will set the clock in line with the informal arrangements made by the whips.

Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister to the Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This afternoon we're going to discuss the government's preparedness to safeguard Australia's fuel security amid escalating conflict in the Middle East, and its impact on Australian families and businesses. Before I get to the very, very clear answer about whether or not the government has prepared our country for crises like that in the Middle East—the answer is clearly no, it hasn't—let me share with you what has been happening in our country in the last few days.

Before the 2022 election, Anthony Albanese, then opposition leader wanting to become Prime Minister, made much of the fact that petrol prices in our country were a $1.79, $1.85 and $1.91. But now that petrol prices in Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Darwin, to name a few, are at $2.20, he wants people to be calm. He wants people to be considered.

There is anxiety in the community and panic in the community because the government has failed to reassure people that there is a plan. The government has failed to plan for these types of events. The government has failed to plan for these types of events despite the fact that organisations like the Reserve Bank of Australia have been telling the government for a number of years now that the geopolitical risks to our domestic economy are real and the government must prepare for them. The coalition is committed to protecting Australia's living standards and protecting the Australian way of life, and that is especially the case in times of uncertainty and times of crisis. Australians are right to ask: has the Albanese government been doing enough to prepare our country for certainty, for growing risk and for crises?

It's worth reminding ourselves that the Australian context is unique when it comes to fuel security. Roughly 80 to 90 per cent of liquid fuels are imported into our country, making Australians price takers. We only have two major refineries operational in our country, because of the high cost of doing business in Australia. It's worth noting as well that 83 per cent of maritime imports and 90 per cent of all exports pass through contested maritime routes. This means that the need for planning, the need to foresee future risks and the need to be prepared is more paramount when it comes to delivering fuel security for Australia.

The impact of rising petrol prices will hurt Australian families and businesses. In fact, they are already hurting Australian families and businesses. Rising petrol prices will continue to fuel inflation in our country, which will continue to put pressure on rising interest rates. This is all because the government has more broadly failed to properly manage the economy.

It was just last year that Anthony Albanese and Jim Chalmers, the Treasurer, boldly said that inflation was now under control in Australia. They said to Australian families and businesses: 'There is no inflationary fear that you need to have in Australia anymore.' They have been proven to be devastatingly wrong when it has come to the inflationary experience in our country. More and more Australians are coming to understand that simple economic rule: excessive government spending puts pressure on inflation, which forces interest rates to rise. The RBA governor has said to the government on many occasions that it must be better prepared for the economic risks that arise from geopolitical uncertainty. The RBA has regularly highlighted in its 2025 and early 2026 monetary policy statements that expanded or extended geopolitical risks and policy uncertainties are the key risks to the economic outlook in our country.

The inflationary experience is real for families; it is real for businesses. Unfortunately, it is only going to get worse for them because the government has failed to prepare for conflicts like that in the Middle East.

Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make a contribution on the matter of public importance moved by Senator Smith in relation to fuel security. At the outset, I want to assure the Senate that the government takes this issue extremely seriously. I also want to assure everyone listening that we have the supply of fuel that we need. We do not see evidence that we will face a shortage at this stage. I must stress again: our nation is fuel secure. We are above our minimum petrol stockholding obligations, and we are fuel secure because this government has acted. The government has been clear. This is an international crisis; it's not a commercial opportunity.

The immediate priority of the government continues to be the safety and security of Australians across the Middle East. We are closely monitoring the evolving situation in the Middle East, including impacts to agricultural trade. We will work with industry on any potential disruptions and will continue our strong track record on diversifying our agricultural export markets.

Petrol companies have informed us that their fuel stock continues to arrive in Australia on time in the quantities that they expect. But it is clear there are some impacts in the supply chain which are exacerbated by uncertainty and the market responding to global price pressures. This is not a matter of supply but rather commercial decisions and market pressures. The National Oil Supplies Emergency Committee, which brings together all the states, has already met twice as an information-sharing forum, and this body has considered there is no shortage of supply.

I'd like to place on the record and state for the information of the Senate what our current stocks are. We have 36 days of petrol, which is 1.56 billion litres of petrol; we have 29 days of jet fuel, which equates to 802 million litres of jet fuel; and we have 32 days of diesel, which is 2.97 billion litres of diesel. As was reported during question time earlier today, our government convened a roundtable with petrol and farming peak bodies today. This will form the basis of an ongoing taskforce between agriculture and fuel suppliers, ensuring that they are able to share information and identify emerging market problems quickly. Part of this is getting everyone on the same page, making sure people understand where the market pressures and bottlenecks are.

We have a range of measures that mean increasingly closer engagement between government and industry. Minister Bowen has indicated that he will instruct the department to convene the National Oil Supplies Emergency Committee regularly to maintain regular information sharing and readiness to act. But right now we do not see a risk of national shortages of supplies or risks that warrant activating extraordinary powers, nor do we believe it appropriate for the opposition to unnecessarily stir fear and create alarm.

The government is prepared, and we are ensuring Australia's fuel security. It stands in stark contrast to the coalition's failure to act when they were in government. I remember when the coalition closed refineries. We kept them open, one of which was the Kwinana oil refinery in my home state of Western Australia. After being closed in 2021 it was to be converted to an import-only terminal. As of 2025 it was transitioning into a biorefinery and green hydrogen production facility. The coalition stored emergency fuel on another continent; we're storing it here. The coalition talked about minimum stockholding obligations; we implemented them. The coalition oversaw closures of urea facilities; we're building a new one—and the trucking industry have not forgotten what they did. The coalition talked about low-carbon liquid fuels like ethanol; we're investing in them.

As I said at the outset, we are fuel secure because this government has acted—and it's not just me and senators on this side of the chamber who know the opposition got it wrong on fuel security when they were last in government. As recently as yesterday, former Nationals MP and former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce agreed with Tanya Plibersek's assessment of the situation, when he said:

Tanya's right, storing it—

referring to fuel reserves—

in the United States is a very stupid place to store it.

That was Mr Taylor's idea.

In addition to that admission, Mr Joyce said the coalition had done the wrong thing and referred to their fuel security policies as 'a bad decision'. Even the Manager of Opposition Business in the Senate, Senator Duniam, in an interview on 2CC today, was critical of the coalition's track record when it comes to safeguarding Australia's fuel security.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

President Trump and Prime Minister Netanyahu's illegal strike on Iran led to one of the biggest spikes in the oil price we've ever witnessed yesterday. Brent crude is over $100 a barrel. We refine that into fuels for our vehicles, aeroplanes and so on. Australians and people right around the world are very anxious and concerned about this illegal war and the impact it's going to have on them in their daily lives.

Part of the reason for the big spike in the oil price is a blockade and the risks of getting oil through the Strait of Hormuz. I'll tell you what's not sitting on ships in the Strait of Hormuz, just underneath Iran: solar panels, wind turbines and batteries, and renewable energy generating power and electricity for cars, households and energy independence all around the planet. This is a time when, if we're going to talk about energy security and fuel security, we need to talk about renewable energy. It's not just getting cheap power from the sun and the wind; it's giving us independence from these international shocks that are so disruptive to our economy. We need to have this discussion today.

For the Senate, it shouldn't be a difficult decision for us to have more renewables. I read today that both Senator Pauline Hanson and Senator Matt Canavan have taken up government solar panel subsidies, yet they campaign against renewable energy. Now's the time for them to come out and fess up: there's nothing wrong with renewables, we need more of them, they're cheap and reliable, and they give us independence—bloody beauty!

Jacqui Lambie (Tasmania, Jacqui Lambie Network) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've only got a minute, so I thought I'd run through some key points that Minister Ayres made to the Senate when he was in opposition. On 21 June 2021, Senator Ayres told the Senate:

The government has been warned for years that fuel security is a matter of national importance.

He went on to warn that, in the event of a conflict disrupting supply, 'Our fuel supplies could be severely constrained and we do not have a viable contingency plan in place to provide adequate supplies for Australia's essential, everyday services.'

In the last section of his speech—and I would like Minister Ayres to reflect on it—he pointed out that, in 2018, 'Australia is the only International Energy Agency country which is a net oil importer and solely relies on the commercial stockholding of industry to meet its 90-day stockholding.' He finished that thought with:

What happened in relation to that finding? Absolutely nothing.

I can tell the Australian people that both of the major parties have been dropping the ball for years, and that is why we're in the predicament we are when it comes to our fuel security.

Jacinta Nampijinpa Price (NT, Country Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Skills and Training) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I doubt the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, is a fan of Chris Uhlmann, but if Minister Bowen bothered to read Mr Uhlmann's columns he might orientate himself towards energy realities rather than indulge in energy fantasies. In his column in the Australian last weekend, Mr Uhlmann wrote the following:

The current Middle Eastern war underscores how the world really works and what fuels it runs on.

…   …   …

… the world runs on hydrocarbons. … The troika that delivers more than 80 per cent of the world's primary energy is still coal, oil and gas. Energy security is essential and green energy an aspiration.

…   …   …

Energy security is national security, and Europe is an energy vassal. That Australia is determined to mimic it is an act of supernatural stupidity.

Chris Uhlmann is right. Australia is a diesel economy, and Australia is particularly exposed to the events in the Middle East. We import nearly all of our crude oil and refined products. We sit at the end of a long supply chain. Without fuel, our farmers, miners and fishers are brought to a standstill. Without fuel, the trucks that are transporting food, pharmaceuticals and supplies will stop moving. Without fuel, our rural and regional areas are at risk. Without fuel, small businesses around the economy will be hamstrung. We're already hearing reports of serious fuel shortages in regional areas and even in cities. There's been panic buying and there's been rationing; both are amplifying supply issues and price increases.

What is Minister Bowen doing? He has plenty of reassuring words, but reassuring words simply don't cut it. Australians need reassuring actions from the energy minister. He needs to start pulling levers to address fuel supply shortages and he needs to start pulling levers to keep fuel prices down, but Minister Bowen is not using the powers at his disposal; he is procrastinating. Australians might start asking this question: does the energy minister want a national fuel crisis?

We know that Minister Bowen is a prophet of net zero ideology. We know that Minister Bowen romanticises green energy. He would love nothing more than to see Australians moving out of petrol cars and driving imported Chinese EVs. You can almost see Minister Bowen standing up and saying, Keating-esque, 'This is the fuel crisis we had to have'. But Minister Bowen would be ignoring a crucial fact. EVs account for only two per cent of all cars on Australian roads. It's incumbent on Minister Bowen to stop indulging in his green utopia, which is a dangerous delusion. EVs haven't lessened fuel dependency, nor will they well into the future. So much of our economy and so many of our industries rely on diesel fuel. That is a fact. Australia is a diesel economy. Energy is the economy. Energy is security. It's time for Minister Bowen to accept that reality.

The late, great Senator Jim Molan often spoke about the need to shore up Australia's fuel security. Indeed, national security experts Peter Jennings, Michael Shoebridge and Marcus Hellyer recommended urgently building our onshore national fuel reserves. They wrote:

Despite a growing awareness of the fragile supply chains that support Australian fuel needs, there has been limited government and corporate action to address this fragility. Instead, Australian refineries capable of producing these essential fuels have been closing, leaving only two refineries in operation.

The choice for Minister Bowen is clear: develop our sovereign energy sources so we can become self-reliant, or continue to indulge in a green fantasy and make Australia energy dependent on countries like China. Only one of those paths leads to a future made in Australia.

Michelle Ananda-Rajah (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, Australia does import most of its fuel—90 per cent or so—but do you know what else Australia imports? It imports about 90 per cent of its pharmaceuticals, its medicines. Yet I don't see Australians rushing to their nearest chemist and clearing the shelves of statins, antihypertensives, diabetic medications or antibiotics. What we are seeing here is extremist fearmongering being whipped up by the coalition. It is the height of irresponsibility to be doing this.

Australia is a fuel-secure nation. Just as Australians still receive their medicines when they go to the doctor, a hospital or a clinic, Australians can continue to receive their fuel provided they do not panic-buy and provided they do not listen to the fearmongering being propagated by the coalition, who have the hide to stand there and criticise us when, in their term of government, they sat back while four out of the six refineries in Australia shut down. Australia is connected to a global economy, and, with regard to fuel, our supply chains are secure and stable. In fact, don't take it from me; take it from industry. Industry has been able to fulfil its contractual obligations. That means that they are meeting their contracts to the people that are needing this fuel.

But what we are seeing around the country is panic buying being whipped up by the coalition. As a result, we are seeing some local pockets where fuel is running low or running out. But I would say to Australians that our fuel reserve is the highest it has been in 15 years. That means that we currently have 36 days of petrol, which is 1.56 billion litres of petrol, and we have 32 days of diesel, which is three billion litres of diesel. That fuel is not in Texas or Louisiana, which is where it was when the coalition were in government. That fuel is right here in Australia or in our exclusive economic zone, which means it is in transit in our maritime waters. It's actually set up in Geelong and Brisbane. That's where our fuel is—not in Texas, which is what happened under the coalition. They failed to mention that in their narrative.

In addition to that, we have charged the ACCC with making sure that Australian motorists are not being price gouged at the bowser, and we are the ones who implemented what is called a minimum stock obligation. That means that refineries are obligated to hold a minimum amount of fuel right here in Australia. In addition to that, we realised that we cannot be in a situation where we are obligated or beholden to overseas suppliers. Hence, we are investing in what is called low-carbon fuel—$1.1 billion. Part of our Future Made in Australia agenda is going towards investing in future fuels, which are things like biodiesel, sustainable aviation fuel and e-fuels. They're made from products that are grown by our farmers right here in Australia, like sorghum, canola and sugar, and from waste products like tallow. So that is one way we are diversifying.

The other thing that we're doing is investing in the electrification of our transport grid. We know that this is not a full solution and that we will still need heavy transport that is reliant on low-carbon fuels, and that's what we're investing in—$1.1 billion—for the future. We think the first product will be available to Australians in 2029. It'll drop in, meaning it'll integrate into the existing diesel supply.

In the meantime, Australians are embracing electric vehicles. There are now over 450,000 electric vehicles on the roads. December 2025 was a record period for sales of EVs. They peaked at nearly 17 per cent of new car sales. So Australians get it. They are taking their energy destiny into their own hands, and why not? One in three have solar panels, including Senator Canavan and Senator Hanson, who have now adopted solar panels. Why wouldn't they take advantage of the abundance of free energy that is bearing down on us? In addition to that, over 265,000 Australian households have now put in household batteries. This is how we strengthen Australia's energy resilience.

Malcolm Roberts (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2021, Senator Hanson warned that Australia's fuel supply was dangerously low and no provisions had been made to increase storage. In 2022, I repeated the warning and set out a policy to fix our supply, which was: build more fuel storage in Australia; bring more fuel tankers under Australian ownership to guarantee in a crisis they'll deliver to Australia, not to the highest bidder; reduce red, green and blue tape, allowing producers to produce and explorers to explore while protecting critical environments; and increase refining capacity, with gas-to-fuel plants to harness our natural advantage in gas—we're bringing a bill to the Senate on Thursday to facilitate this new industry; and halve the fuel excise, cutting 22 cents a litre. With new refining capacity and better reserves, you'd expect fuel reductions around 50c a litre. Had One Nation been in government in 2021, we would have fixed our fuel supply. Instead, the Liberal-Labor unity party did nothing and simply hid the looming crisis.

Fatima Payman (WA, Australia's Voice) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When supply lines are disrupted, Australians pay. If you drive, you'll pay for it at the bowser. In Perth, prices have risen from $1.80 to as high as $2.40. If you don't drive, you will feel it at the supermarket checkout as groceries become more expensive to transport. These price rises were not unforeseeable, however. Fuel refineries across Australia have been closing down for years, leaving us more dependent on foreign refineries and making us more vulnerable to supply chain insecurity. Meanwhile, our strategic fuel reserve, for some reason, is in the United States. Why? Why are we not allowed to keep Australian fuel reserves in Australia? If we want fuel security, we need to have our fuel reserves here in Australia. But, more than that, we need to secure the sovereign capabilities to refine our own fuel. If we don't, Australians will continue to be left vulnerable to international tensions, as we see before us.

Ross Cadell (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What we see is a lot of spin going around today. We're hearing a lot on who did what and when they did that, with a lot of facts on the table. We get this 'fact' that there is no fuel supply problem—it is almost gaslighting the Australian people that can't do their things out there. 'We are going to have a roundtable. That's how we are going to fix this. We are going to talk this problem out of existence'—what a great strategy that is. Let's get down to it. Roundtables won't put things on breakfast tables. Roundtables won't put stuff on dinner tables. We hear, 'So many of the refineries shut down before.' What about Clyde? What about Kurnell? These two they won't mention—the 2011 and 2012 announced closures under a Labor government.

This is the thing. Let's let some facts creep into what's going on. When they say there is no problem with fuel supply, tell that to the fishing people of Cairns, where fuel has jumped 30c to $2.40 a litre. Townsville is up 28c. Fishing fleets were already suffering under so much regulation they can't go out and put food on tables, Australian seafood, because they either can't afford the fuel to go out and fish or can't get the fuel to go out and fish. Tin Can Bay Ltd's normal supply is down to 40,000 litres per day. That is 10 per cent of normal supply. What is going to happen because we don't have great fuel supply? Let's not pretend we do. We hear the Minister for Climate Change and Energy saying there is no problem, but we have service station businesses going out of business.

My mate Jonno in the Hunter Valley has a frame and truss business. He's been told he has to buy three weeks worth of fuel upfront at $2.30 a litre to keep his trucks on the road. This is the hit that is everywhere because our fuel supply system has done nothing for a long time. When those opposite sit there and say the previous government did nothing, I was at the Port of Newcastle when the strategic fuel reserve fund funded increases in tank capacity at Park Fuels and Stolthaven. You can't say it didn't happen, because I was there and I watched it happen. These fuel operators don't make more money by storing more fuel because they are only selling the same amount of fuel. The government has to step up and build the facilities and fund the operation so that we can keep this fuel in Australia. When this governments is saying more fuel is stored here than ever before, that's because the previous government funded the creation of these things and they were built during this time. But they were not funded by this government. Once again, they are just taking the credit for a decision of the previous government. They are the facts.

Right across the nation, we are seeing businesses—we're going to see sorghum harvesting in Central Western Queensland. They don't have the fuel to do that other than the fuel in their tanks. We're about to see planting in other parts, and they don't have the diesel to do that. But we're going to go to roundtables and we're going to talk this problem out of existence! What the roundtables are meant to do is not to find a solution or solve the problem; they're meant to go long enough that you forget about it out there in public. They're meant to sweep it under the cover so that you pretend that they're right.

It's gaslighting. If this government were a person, it would have a narcissistic complex, because it gaslights all the time. It pretends it's the victim—that it's the victim of the last government or of something else, such as Ukraine or Iran. It never takes responsibility. It is a narcissistic government that does not get on with the answers. Why aren't we out there? We could do more on the ethanol mandate. We could do more on biodiesel. We could fund more storage in regional areas so that, when the big four are shutting down their supplies to secondary suppliers, there is diesel and fuel in regional areas. There are answers that we need. There are answers that we can do. There are levers that the energy minister can pull to fix the problem. But what has he chosen? To talk about it. Weekly roundtables are the answer to the fuel supply problem in Australia, according to this government.

That's what we're stuck with. We're looking at this melee between what happens in the real world and what happens in Labor's world. In Labor's world, we probably got the $275 reduction in energy prices. In Labor's world, there is no fuel supply issue. The Tin Can Bay boats can fill up—the tourist charter boats in Queensland who are getting about 10 per cent of their supply as well. The economy is suffering everywhere because of poor management. Put some money up. Pull some levers. Make sure this happens. Start investing in the things that keep Australia strong, because sovereignty only comes when we have fuel security, food security and economic security, and you can do none of that when you pretend the problems are in people's minds and not in their lives.

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

The time for the discussion has expired.