Minister Wong, that was a masterclass. Well done—

Senator Babet, could you indicate—

I move:

That the Senate take note of the answer to the question asked by me to Minister Wong today regarding fuel.

I've got to say, that was excellent. It's exactly what I expected. Minister Wong did not disappoint at all. I have to give it to her. I really do. Australia's foreign policy should be guided by a simple question: does it benefit Australia? That's it. If something benefits Australia then, of course, we should do it. If something does not benefit Australia then we should not do it. These principles are pretty simple. Acting in the national interest isn't hard to understand. Yet from what I'm seeing, our government behaves like I'm trying to explain quantum physics to them—I'm not. As a nation, we should be particularly wary of entanglements that cost us billions of dollars, that damage our economy and that just make life harder for ordinary Australians.

I filled up my car a couple of days ago and I paid nearly three bucks for a litre of diesel. It's absolutely ridiculous. And I make $220 K a year from this place; even I'm struggling. I can't even imagine how people out there are doing right now. It's not right.

I'm talking about people outside, Senator—especially when the entanglements that we're in right now are done in the pursuit of some grand moral gesture, and the only purpose of this grand moral gesture is to make our political class feel better about itself. Russia is a perfect example of this. We're told that Russia must not be allowed to have a sphere of influence. Yet the United States has a sphere of influence. China has a sphere of influence. Australia have our own interests in this region right here, and we expect other countries to respect those interests. But, when it comes to Russia, apparently the rules of international relations cease to apply. Why is that? Having a sphere of influence obviously doesn't mean that countries have a blank cheque to invade their neighbours—of course not—but pretending that great powers don't have security interests or that those interests can simply be wished away isn't foreign policy; it's fantasy with a defence budget. That's what it is. We barely even have that right here. The world, not least of all the Russians, was assured that NATO would not move one inch eastward—not one inch. Yet NATO did move closer to the Russian border. (Time expired)

Question agreed to.