MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE

Mr KHALIL (Wills—Assistant Minister for Defence) (15:21): I was really hopeful that maybe I would hear some facts or some perspective from the member for Gippsland in this MPI rather than personal pot shots or partisan political points, but maybe I was being too hopeful. I'm going to try to address some of the facts in relation to this MPI that they've raised.

It is a fact that Australians are following the events in the Middle East, and they're seeing and feeling the consequences of this. Australians have been feeling the pressure at the pump over the last few weeks, and that's going to continue because, the longer this conflict in the Middle East goes on, the more significant the impact will be on the global economy and on the Australian economy.

This is being felt around the world. That's just a fact. The fact is that 20 per cent of the world's oil passes through the Strait of Hormuz.

That's significant. That's a fact, and it has an ongoing impact on people's lives. However, I can say that it's a fact as well that Australia's oil imports have been fairly robust in this context—very robust, in fact.

Dr Webster interjecting— Mr KHALIL: I'll take the interjection because it's just a fact that, even though those on that side made a big song and dance about six out of 81 shipments of oil being cancelled in the past month—as was stated in question time by the minister, and I'll repeat it and point it out—all six of those have been replaced. In fact, as the minister informed the House today, in addition to replacing those six cancelled shipments, three cargo ships over and above the normal contracted deliveries for April and May are going to be added to the fuel supply.

It's a fact that we're dealing with an issue around demand. Why is that? For context, it takes about a month for oil to leave the Middle East and make its way through the Strait of Hormuz to Asian countries like Singapore that refine the crude into petrol.

Then it's shipped to Australia, it gets trucked to your local petrol stations and it makes its way to the bowser and into your car. It takes more than a month for all of that to occur. Given this context only started four weeks ago, what we're dealing with, factually, is an increase in demand.

The bulk of the issues we're dealing with have been caused by spikes in demand. Demand for petrol has doubled due to—well, the best way I can describe it is this. My mum called me the other day, and she was upset.

She said she went to the petrol station to fill up her car, and the bloke in front of her filled up his car and then filled up five jerry cans. She said, 'Why is he doing that?' I wanted to make a partisan point and say, 'Because some of those in our parliament are encouraging people to panic buy in this way. It's not necessary, mum.

You just fill up with what you need.' Most Australians just need to fill up with what they need. It's not necessary, Mum. You just fill up with what you need.

Most Australians just need to fill up with what they need. There is plenty of fuel supply. This is an issue around demand.

It's an issue around getting the message across to the bloke at the petrol station who, selfishly, in front of a pensioner, is filling up five jerry cans and not thinking about the community around them. It's important that the messaging to Australians, the responsibility that you have as members of parliament, is not encouraging people to panic buy in your commentary like the Leader of the Opposition has in some of the statements he's made.

It's actually to take the responsible position and say to Australians: 'This is what's happening; these are the facts. The fuel supply is intact; it's coming through. We've increased the number of cargo ships, and all you need to do is buy the fuel that you need for you and your family and not fill up jerry cans.' Ms Penfold: A constituent of mine had to sell his assets to buy fuel!

Mr KHALIL: But, unfortunately, as we can hear now with the interjections, they can't even bring themselves to conduct that kind of responsible statement on behalf of their constituents. That's not what we're doing. As a government, we are taking that very seriously and making sure that we get the right messages across to people about buying the fuel they need.

More than that, as a government, we are also very responsibly making sure that we increase supply to meet that increase in demand and that there is no profiteering during this period. We've boosted the fuel supply by releasing up to 20 per cent of the baseline minimum stockholding obligation for petrol and diesel. In addition to that, we've had two more agreements that have been struck, with 757 million litres now flowing—released—to regional Australia.

We've appointed Anthea Harris as the Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator to support coordination across governments and sectors across the country. Ms Harris will lead a new fuel supply taskforce that will be established by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. We've also convened roundtables with the fuel industry, the transport industry and the agricultural sector, doing substantive work to coordinate our efforts during this period.

We're not making pot shots, not doing personal pot shots like the previous member was, not making interjections and not carrying on, but we are doing the responsible work that the government needs. We've convened the National Oil Supplies Emergency Committee. We've held six meetings since 1 March, and we've activated the National Coordination Mechanism, which has now met twice.

Ms Penfold interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Member for Lyne, if you intend to participate in this debate, you will be thrown out at any moment. Mr KHALIL: That might be a bit boring for those opposite, but it's the work of a responsible government. You probably don't know what that is.

We're driving the coordination between the Commonwealth and the states and territories on fuel security and supply chain resilience. Ms Penfold interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Stop it. Honestly, you'll be gone if you do it again.

Mr KHALIL: We're hosting a national cabinet and special energy ministers meetings as well. That's how we're ensuring that there's no profiteering and that there's fair competition. That's how we're ensuring that we get more supply into the system, given the spikes in demand that I just touched on.

We need to ensure that petrol is being priced fairly. That is really important for people in Australia. It would be very disappointing if we were to discover that these companies are trying to make a quick buck off the back of this situation.

They should know that the government is watching what they're doing very, very closely. That's why new information-gathering powers have been given to the secretary of the department as well as additional information about supply and demand and fuel distribution terminals around Australia being given to the relevant agencies, and that includes empowering the ACCC to protect motorists from unfair price rises as well.

We'll hold those suppliers accountable for any anticompetitive conduct and allow conditional coordination across the supply chain to address shortages. As the Assistant Minister for Defence, I think it's important to let the public know, too, that, within Defence, I've been in contact with our department and the ADF around our plans during this period. It is important to also state clearly that Defence's fuel supply is secure.

In fact, Defence, since 2022, has doubled the amount of fuel that it holds in strategic reserves. We've done the real work of government, the responsible work of government, to actually make sure of those contingencies. We've committed billions of dollars into the Defence fuel resilience program—$3 billion, actually—and that stands in comparison to the previous government, which had committed just $1 billion over a 30-year timeframe.

Our first phase of the strategic fuel reserve has now been delivered, making our Defence Force more agile and secure. That includes investment in infrastructure, additional fuel stores and transport mechanisms. That is important for our men and women in uniform.

But, yes, there is pressure on everyday Australians around the fuel crisis, and we've got, obviously, this period with cost-of-living pressures and so on. That is why the Treasurer has quite rightly pointed out that, even though the new inflation numbers for February are somewhat lower—there's been a little bit of an easing—they're still higher than we would like, and he continues to do the work to bring inflation down.

The government understands that many Australians are feeling that cost-of-living pressure, and that's why we're rolling out cost-of-living relief on a continual basis. Again, it might not be as exciting as the pot shots that those opposite are throwing around, but we are doing the real work. This side actually cares about our communities and our constituents.

We're making sure that we've got the tax cuts for every taxpayer. The pay rise for minimum and award wage workers is happening under Labor. There's paid parental leave; the bonuses for housing apprentices; the percentages off home batteries to cut power bills; the paid prac for teachers, nurses and social workers; the boost to Medicare; and the Medicare urgent care clinics that we are building right across the country.

All of this makes a real, substantive difference to the people that we represent, and that's why we are doing it. We're taking responsibility as a government to make sure that Australians are looked after. In difficult periods the Albanese Labor government is putting practical, substantive policies in place that make a real difference to people's lives.

I understand the need in this place for some theatrics and all the rest of it, but there are facts and realities that go over and above the partisan points that are being made, and I have set them out clearly in this MPI. There is more fuel supply in our reserves today than there has been for a long time, and we are doing what is necessary to look after Australians every single day.