QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (15:01): I'm sure, if you'd buttonholed Minister Bowen on the way in here, he would have told you that we have precisely those figures available. This government has been completely transparent with the Australian people about what is happening. If the question was 'what are they?' then I would have been delighted to answer.

Instead, I have a minute and a half to explain what figures we have. If Senator Chandler wants to ask what they are, I'm sure I'd be delighted to support her question with an answer. It is true, at a national level, both because of the minimum stockholding which did not exist when we came to government and because of the fact that this government has released 20 per cent of the stockholding, that not all of the work has been done, particularly in regional Australia, particularly in some petrol stations like, for example, in New South Wales, where there are 164 petrol stations with no diesel.

Overwhelmingly— An opposition senator interjecting— Senator AYRES: Well, it's seven per cent. Those petrol stations will be overwhelmingly in regional Australia, and that is where farmers are currently, for example, undertaking winter planting. That is why the 20 per cent additional has been released.

It is in order to free up some stockholding, particularly for those independent retailers who have struggled to get hold of that supply in the environment that we're in. The PRESIDENT: Senator Chandler, first supplementary?