Alex Antic (SA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answers given by ministers to questions without notice asked by coalition senators today.

I do so against the background of the crippling fuel shortages which we are now experiencing all over the country and which all Australians are growing increasingly concerned about. We heard a lot about it today from those opposite. We heard a lot of deflecting and, I might say, a very different story to what we heard during the last sitting period, which was: 'It's all okay. There's nothing to worry about. We've got more fuel than we know what to do with. Don't you worry'—repeat, repeat, repeat. That message seems to have changed a little bit. We now know that, as of Monday this week, the 22nd, some 166 petrol stations across the nation were out of fuel. We also learnt yesterday, in the other place, about the following shortages in three states: New South Wales had 37 stations out of fuel, Queensland had 47 stations out of diesel and 32 with no regular unleaded, and Victoria had 109 stations without one grade of petrol or the other. So the situation seems to have changed dramatically from the last sitting period, when we were told it was all okay, like that meme with the little girl and the fire in the background, where she is saying, 'Nothing to see here; it's all fine.'

But there is another angle to this. For many years, a small group of us in this building have been warning about Australia falling under the grip of a globalist elite. Now that we're looking down the barrel of food and fuel shortages, it's fair to ask, I think, whether or not we're seeing that play out. In March 2026, we're seeing Australia's vulnerabilities offering what may end up being a provocative case study. As I said, these fuel shortages are hitting hard. The escalating Middle East conflict has clearly disrupted the Strait of Hormuz and spiked global oil prices, and we're seeing shipments to Australia cancelled. Panic buying and logistics strain are now real. Farmers are warning of grounded machinery during harvest threatening crops, livestock and transport, and that's not to mention the fertiliser shortages.

Food insecurity, prior to all of this, was already rising. Foodbank's 2025 report showed that one in three households were affected, 20 per cent so severely that they were skipping meals as a result of cost-of-living pressures. The question has to be raised: is this coincidence or is it a convergence of issues? Geopolitical shocks expose pre-existing weaknesses in self-sufficiency, and that's not necessarily a conspiracy. Everything this lot don't like around here is a conspiracy. Yet the timing, amid WEF style global coordination calls, fuels speculation that shortages could actually end up justifying more intervention—things like rationing and subsidies—all for sustainable alternatives or dietary shifts. And I'm going to make a little prediction here, because I like my predictions: if shortages end up widening into winter 2026, we're going to start seeing debates over sovereignty versus global alignment. I notice we had, for a variety of reasons, the EU president attend the parliament today, just coincidently—just because. I know we're talking about trade, but it's funny how it's all happening at once.

Why do I have this gut feeling that I've seen this all before? I feel like I've watched this re-run once or twice. It's starting to sound a little familiar to me. Would it be such a huge surprise if, in the coming months, we started to see—I don't know—work from home mandates, travel restrictions or purchase limits? We're almost expecting to see fuel rations. Would it be such a surprise if, all of a sudden, this was monitored by QR codes and government mandates and apps? Remember, many of us were talking about the day in which people would finally understand what's going on out there when they went to the supermarket and could only buy one steak because they'd already bought one earlier in the week. Here we are in 2026, and who knows? Could this be the great reset?

It's all a bit cynical, though, isn't it? It's probably just a conspiracy theory. Yet we hear that the Yara ammonia plant is off site for two months, and there's a refinery down in Texas at the moment. It's all a bit confusing. Do you know the old joke—these people love their conspiracies when they finally catch up. The old joke used to be: 'What's the difference between a conspiracy theory and reality? Six months.' I think it's about two now, quite frankly. It can't be long before we're going to be 'all in this together'. Remember how we were all in it together, until we didn't do what we were told, then we were all out on our own? Remember that one? Conspiracy theories.

Anyway, in the coming months, I think we're going to see a test as to how this plays out as to crisis management, or whether it is crisis management or we're seeing something very different rolling out, something maybe—hmm, I don't know—a little more transformative. How about that?

Lisa Darmanin (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wanted to try and take some of the hyperbole out of the debate that we have been having today and really provide assurance to Australians about what's happening, because it is, no doubt, an unfortunate situation. We just need to remember that what started this was that, on 28 February, the US and Israel launched air strikes on Iran, and Iran launched missile strikes in the Middle East. In Australia, the largest component of what we pay at the pump and the supply of our fuel is the global fuel price and the global market. It is obvious but still worth acknowledging that, of course, this is a very difficult and stressful time for Australians. No-one wants to see uncertainty over supply. Unfortunately, however, this international setting continues to make everything unpredictable.

There has been a lot of talk today in the chamber about the supply of fuel and our approach to this. What is absolutely worth noting is the impact of events outside our borders and outside of our control and what those things have on the supply of fuel in this country and how we can build resilience against that. Senator Antic talked a minute ago about what is predictable. What assurance I can provide to people is what we know is predictable. There are two things that are predictable. That those opposite are continuing to create panic around fuel supply in this country—that is predictable. The second thing that is absolutely predictable and that Australians should be really taking notice of is that this government is working every day around the clock to provide steady and sustained assurance for Australians on supply of fuel.

Australia is an island nation, and it is prudent to consider what we would do if the ships were unable to arrive, and we have considered that scenario. I want to talk about what has changed as a result of that. In 2023, this government introduced the minimum stockholding obligation, the MSO. It requires petrol, diesel and jet fuel reserves to be held here in Australia for our security in times of disruption—a bit like this right now. This differs from the International Energy Agency's 90-day requirement, which pertains to emergency oil stocks which can be held both locally and overseas, but, because Australia is an island nation, we need to account for the reliance that we have on freight, which arrives by sea. The government is monitoring shipping data in real time.

Before we introduced the MSO, what we considered our reserves were stored in the United States. That is hardly a source of relief in a crisis. Now, those reserves are held here in Brisbane, and they are in Geelong. By focusing on the fuel which is literally here in Australia, the MSO is a far more practical measure of our domestic fuel security. The MSO is a key measure of our domestic fuel security. It ensures we have a basic level of supply during disruptions, and we are currently above the minimum stockholding obligations, and we have boosted supply by releasing 20 per cent of the baseline of the MSO for petrol and diesel. That is the fact of what is happening right now.

The government is also working closely with industry and states and territories to ensure that this fuel gets to where it is needed most, particularly in regional communities. Of course, these measures of security do not negate the influence of international events on our fuel. We need to ensure we are resilient to the global shocks, and, in times of instability, a system designed to help us maintain basic supply is not allowing us to continue business as usual. To achieve business as usual amid instability, we need to look at alternate options as well. When we exist in a global supply chain, there will be events outside our control which disrupt that chain and, therefore, disrupt our access to goods within it. Ensuring access to fuel amid those disruptions is part of that parcel.

However, another really important parcel of that work is reducing our reliance on that supply chain. That is just another reason why investing in clean energy is so important for Australians. We've established a $5 billion net zero fund to help industry decarbonise. We have invested $1.1 billion to encourage more production of clean fuels right here in Australia, and our $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia package will help us become a renewable energy superpower. We are continuing to take decisive actions that will help in this immediate, urgent situation, but also well into the future. (Time expired)

Dave Sharma (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Citizenship and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today we heard some sobering figures from Senator Ayres, who came to the chamber prepared to level with the parliament and with the Australian public about the extent and severity of the fuel shortage in Australia. He confirmed that there are 164 petrol stations in New South Wales where you cannot buy diesel at the moment. He also said that eight per cent of petrol stations nationally have one or more grades unavailable. That means they might not have diesel, or they might not have unleaded. At my count, that's about 500 to 550 petrol stations across Australia that have one or more grades unavailable. If you look at the other figures, you'll see that in New South Wales 154 stations are out of diesel and 51 stations are out of petrol. In Victoria, 101 petrol stations are not selling petrol and 83 are not selling diesel. In Queensland, 32 petrol stations are out of petrol and 47 are out of diesel. By my count alone, there are about 260 petrol stations across New South Wales where you cannot buy diesel.

Just 12 days ago, on 12 March, the energy minister, Chris Bowen, had this to say. He said:

But we do need to have this conversation based on the facts. And the fact of the matter is we have enough diesel in Australia for our needs for the foreseeable future …

The energy minister, 12 days ago, told the Australian public there was no need to worry, 'no need to panic' because 'we have enough diesel in Australia for our needs for the foreseeable future'. Well, here we are, 12 days later, certainly still within the foreseeable future, and we have 164 petrol stations in New South Wales where you cannot buy diesel, 83 in Victoria, 47 in Queensland and eight per cent nationally.

This has all the makings of a national crisis. Those opposite like to accuse us of asking questions to sow panic, but what they have been engaged in is a form of denialism, a form of fiction, a form of gaslighting—telling people that there's no need to worry and that everything will be fine. But the lived experience of people, especially in rural and regional parts of our country, is that fuel is running short.

I also want to touch on the government's response to an answer to Senator Kovacic's question about urea imports. I think Australians all know and understand intrinsically that the crisis in the Gulf, the war in Iran and the blockage of the Strait of Hormuz are pushing up petrol prices in Australia. What they may not know, though, is that Australia is also highly dependent on the Middle East for imports of urea, which is then used as a precursor for fertiliser. In Australia we get about 65 per cent of our international imports of urea from the Gulf countries—Saudi, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar—and that supply is also significantly interrupted now. What we're seeing are not only higher petrol prices but, increasingly, higher fertiliser prices, which will feed into our supply chains.

If Australia and this government had our inflation under control, if they had government spending under control, we would have some ability to absorb this shock, this exogenous supply-side shock. But we don't. Last week, we had central banks meeting in Frankfurt, in London, in Washington, in Ottawa, in Tokyo. Central banks around the world decided to keep their interest rates on hold because they knew that this shock was coming and that it was going to have a one-off impact on inflation, but all of those countries had inflation back to their target band. In Australia, our inflation has been running at 3.8 per cent annually and is well outside the Reserve Bank's target band, which is why, when the Reserve Bank met last week, they had no choice but to raise interest rates, and it's why the Governor of the Reserve Bank said, when announcing that decision last week, 'inflation was already too high' in Australia before this shock hit.

Now, we have Treasurer Jim Chalmers trying to prepare Australians for inflation with at least a number four in front of it and quite possibly a five in front of it. That means that interest rates are going to have to go up again. That means the economy will slow. That means Australians will be paying more, not just for their fuel but for their food, for anything that comes by truck, for anything that's transported, for basically everything we consume, and it's because this government has run down our inflation credentials. (Time expired)

Josh Dolega (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of answers to coalition questions regarding Australia's fuel supply. The Albanese Labor government does understand that Australians are rightly concerned about not only the fuel supply but also the rising fuel prices. The conflict in Iran is having a real impact on Australian households and the cost of living, and there's no beating around the bush about it—it's tough out there. Our government is looking at every practical measure to shield Australian families and businesses from the worst effects of global instability. We're focused on ensuring farmers in regional communities and essential services continue to have access to the fuel that they rely on and that they need. Across government, we have been working through and planning for the impacts of the crisis and protecting Australians from the worst of this global challenge. As a senator for Tassie, I can say that I'm so grateful for the leadership of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and our senior ministers, including Minister Wong, Minister Ayres and Minister Bowen, who are steering us through these tough times. On this side of the chamber and under this government, we have ministers that are engaging with stakeholders and with the community, making considered decisions, unlike those opposite, who, when they were in government, would make policy on the run.

Earlier this month, I was at the Wynyard Show. It was an incredible day, the sun was shining, and we had stunning weather, beautiful food and a great community. I had a really good time talking to constituents and assisting them with their inquiries. I did hear from the community that the people really are concerned about fuel prices at the moment. It's really clear not only that people are upset and worried about the fuel prices but also that they understand that there are global factors going on, being the war in Iran. It's important that people know that we also understand the price of fuel, what people are paying at the pump. In North West Tassie, it's around $2.50 a litre at the moment, and that's up from about $1.64—in Devonport—just less than four weeks ago. Tasmanians can check the FuelCheck TAS app for the best fuel price around, and they can shop around to get the best deal.

Minister Ayres, today in the chamber during question time, being the warrior for transparency that he is, updated the chamber on the Tasmanian service station situation, and he let the chamber know that there is one service station currently without diesel and six currently without unleaded. We know that these are too many fuel stations that don't have fuel, but it's important that people know the facts and that this information is shared, and it's important that levels of government work together to ensure that the fuel gets to the people.

Australians do want action, and that's why the Albanese government have acted quickly. We've tasked the ACCC with ramping up fuel price monitoring, including weekly reporting on unusual price spikes, investigating anticompetitive conduct and introducing the ability to issue on-the-spot fines. We've been boosting the fuel supply by releasing 20 per cent of the baseload minimum stockholding obligation for petrol and diesel. Last week, the Prime Minister, when he was in Tassie, convened National Cabinet, and he announced that the government would be appointing Ms Anthea Harris as the Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator to support coordination across government and sectors. Ms Harris's role will include: leading the taskforce that will be established in the Department of the PM? driving coordination between the Commonwealth and states and territories on fuel security and supply chain resilience; providing consistent coordinated updates to the Commonwealth and states and territories on the supply stock outlook as well as domestic fuel distribution; and supporting state and territory governments to get fuel to the regions which they need to.

I wanted to also quickly touch on truckies and support for truckies. The Albanese government is helping Australia's trucking industry manage the impacts of the war in the Middle East and ensuring that truckies and operators are better protected with fuel price rises. Our government is, again, stepping up to help create fairness through the supply chain and manage the impacts of fuel challenges. We will amend the Fair Work Act to allow truckies and road transport businesses to make an emergency application to the Fair Work Commission for a contract chain order to deal with the current spike in fuel prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East. Labor supports truckies. We want them to be safe on the road and to not be left behind or taken advantage of. That's why the minimum order of six months will be changed to as soon as possible—so truckies and operators aren't left wondering. (Time expired).

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to make my contribution to the motion to take note of answers given by government senators and ministers today to questions from the coalition in question time. I have to say that the last presentation and the presentations by ministers today are the reason that Australians don't have confidence in the government's handling of the fuel situation. Senator Dolega just quoted a fuel price of about $2.50 in Tasmania at the moment when, in fact, right now, looking at the fuel app, it's $3.15 in Ulverstone. It is absurd when Labor senators come in here and talk about what's going on in their communities right now and they're that far out.

That goes to the point that I would like to make with respect to the information the minister provided today. When he was asked about which fuel stations don't have fuel and how many there are, he was quoting data from 3 March, 10 March and 17 March. The latest information the minister came into the chamber with today was a week old. Even in the other place yesterday, Minister Bowen had information that was up to date. Yet the minister in this chamber comes in and responds to questions from the opposition, based on questions that we're getting from our constituents, with information that is a week old.

This is symptomatic of the way that this government has operated all the way through this crisis. For two weeks, there wasn't a crisis, there wasn't a problem and there was plenty of fuel. They quoted the volumes of diesel, unleaded fuel and aircraft fuel that were available in the country. They quoted all those numbers. They couldn't tell us where it was and they certainly couldn't tell us what was going on within the supply chains, which were clearly having problems. In regional New South Wales, regional Queensland and Western Australia, there were supply chains that were just drying up.

The fishing sector told us that they had no access to fuel. The only fuel, in some circumstances, was the fuel that they had left in their boats when they came back to shore. And the government couldn't tell us what was going wrong or why. Then, all of a sudden, at the end of the last sitting week, it was: 'Yes, there is a crisis. We'll have a roundtable. We'll put a tsar in place.' But they still can't give us up-to-date data. They should be able to give us up-to-date data, and we know they should be able to give us up-to-date data because, when we were in government, we put in place the systems that would provide it. So why can't the government do that?

They just want to deflect. They want to blame someone else; it was the consumers' fault for trying to buy too much fuel. If you have so little confidence in the way the government's handling the situation, of course you're going to make sure that your personal circumstances are looked after. Of course you're going to do that. Of course, then they try and blame the opposition, the then government from before the 2022 election, for the whole circumstance. Yet, during COVID, we learnt a lot about these supply chain issues and we put in place systems to ensure supply. We legislated for the reserve. We budgeted to build the supply capacity in Australia that the government's now relying on. Yes, we put the fuel reserves in the United States, but it was because there wasn't physical capacity to hold it in Australia. So we did the responsible thing. We secured the reserves we needed until we could build the supply here in the country, which is what we established the process to do. It was the responsible thing.

Then, today, we come to the situation with respect to urea, and what do we get? We get the same answers: 'There's plenty of urea. There's no shortage of stocks.' Does anybody understand why the farming community would not be confident in the answers that the government has been giving us when it's reading off almost exactly the same talking points that we got during question time in the last sitting fortnight—plenty of fuel, no shortage, and availability for the foreseeable future—and, of course, by the end of the sitting week, there was a crisis? The government needs to do better. It needs to be providing up-to-date information to the Australian community so that they can have confidence that the fuel they need is there for them. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.