QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator BLYTH (South Australia—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (15:18): I will take some of what Senator Ghosh has just said. He is absolutely correct, and I agree with him, that Australians need reliable, trustworthy information. What they've got instead, from this Labor government, is this.

Just this morning, a senior minister from the Albanese Labor government has gone out on a television program and told Australians that we have more fuel circulating in the economy at the moment than we did before the conflict in the Middle East. That is the information that this government is giving to the Australian public. So I could not agree more with Senator Ghosh that the Australian people deserve honesty and reliable information.

Now, unfortunately, it's easy to stand there and say that we should be playing nicely. But our job, in opposition, is to hold government to account, and the government need to be held to account. They need to be held to account when they are sharing misinformation with the Australian people.

There is a reason that it's called question time and not answer time. I have sat here in this chamber, listening to this government constantly tell us that there is no problem with fuel supply in Australia and there is nothing to see here. In reality, everyday Australians are out there, going to the petrol station to fill up, faced with incredible increases in prices, but this government keeps telling us that there's no issue with supply.

They're now being forced to pay up to $3 a litre. We've got farmers sleeping next to their tractors and their fuel tanks because they are worried that it will be stolen. That is the reality of what is happening out there.

In here, it is a very different story if you listen to this government, as I have done for the last few weeks, infuriated that they are not listening or paying any attention to what everyday Australians are going through. I am proud to be part of a coalition that will get out there and fight every single day to hold to account a government that is not being honest with the people.

We've been told that six shipments of fuel have been cancelled; that is all. That is what this government has put on the public record and on the record in this chamber—only six. So why is it now that one in eight petrol stations across the country have either no unleaded fuel or no diesel?

If there is no real supply issue here, why is that happening? Why is this government modelling looking at rationing? If there is no supply issue, I would argue that that is completely redundant work being done.

This government has also been in government now for four years. I am new to this parliament, but I will say it gets very tiring that, when asked what they're going to do about a problem, they're constantly pointing and saying, 'Well, the coalition did this.' They have now owned the Australian economy for four years. I would say to Australians out there: 'How are you feeling?

Are you feeling like you are better off today than you were four years ago?' Certainly, for me and my family, the answer is resoundingly no. Life is pretty tough. We've got inflation out of control again.

We've just had the 14th rise in interest rates here, and we've now got fuel security issues on our shores. Australia should never ever be in this position, and it is a failure of the Labor government. (Time expired) Question agreed to.