QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator AYRES (New South Wales—Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science) (15:59): Australia imports around 65 per cent of its urea based fertilisers from the Middle East. So we are to a very large extent import dependent. Local ammonia capacity matters.

It is not all in Australia for the purpose of fertiliser; ammonia has other industrial and, particularly, mining explosive applications. In terms of the approach that we're taking to those questions, besides watching what is happening in terms of shipments closely and working with suppliers to see if there are additional supplies that can be brought onstream, of course we are working with importers, producers, farmers, the National Farmers' Federation and Fertilizer Australia to coordinate our actions.

There are a series of practical actions that we are, of course, considering to work with producers and with the production sector—the people who make these products—to try and make sure that we're doing what we can to support this activity. I'd just make the point that, in terms of the Dyno Nobel facility near Mount Isa, which is closely related to and in a symbiotic relationship with the copper smelter— Senator Ruston: Ooh, symbiotic!

Senator AYRES: Symbiotic, Senator Ruston—that is, they use each other's products and rely upon each other. The federal government's intervention in Mount Isa means that that facility has been purchased and will continue to run. We're watching that very closely too.

But that is in the national interest because of the federal government's intervention. The PRESIDENT: Senator Kovacic, first supplementary?