QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS

Senator GROGAN (South Australia—Deputy Government Whip in the Senate) (16:11): We've all in this chamber spent this week listening to the collective of the Greens over there, who are implying Australia started the war in Iran, and our friends across the chamber from the coalition, who are very busy being very loud, wound up and very excited. Senator McKenzie interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Polley ): Senator McKenzie, please.

Senator GROGAN: There we are. Senator McKenzie is proving my point— Senator McKenzie interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie, I remind you and others in the chamber that it is disorderly to interject. Senator GROGAN: We could all stand in here and shout at each other, but I'm not sure what that really achieves, given we've been at it for four days.

There is a situation in the world, a global challenge, that is impacting Australia. Unlike the assertions of the Greens, particularly of Senator McKim, Australia did not start the war in Iran. Australia is not part of the core challenges in the Middle East.

Those challenges have been around for a very long time. But what we do know is that those things impact Australia. It is very easy to go, 'You should stop the war.' Newsflash, people—that's not something the government of this country, regardless of who is in government, has the power to do; I'm sorry to upset your hysterical narrative, but it's just not.

When we come to the issue at hand here of what's happening on the ground in Australia, what I can tell you is that I know people on the ground are hurting right now. They're driving past petrol stations, looking at the price and thinking: 'How on earth do I afford a tank of petrol ongoing? How long is this going to last?' They're looking at the situation in some of those regional areas where people pull up and there isn't any petrol.

That is not widespread, but it is happening. What this government has done is look at all the levers it can pull to make a difference, to get as much of the fuel supplies that are needed to the places that need them. Do we know that people are running out of petrol in some areas?

Yes, we do. Is the work ongoing to try and make sure everybody has what they need? Yes, it is.

This little red bubble in here shouting and carrying on like pork chops isn't necessarily helping, because you're terrifying the living daylights out of people—that they're never going to get another drop of petrol. Senator McKenzie: They're already terrified at your lack of capacity. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator McKenzie, you're not helping.

Senator GROGAN: Senator McKenzie cannot help herself. Senator McKenzie has to keep shouting and carrying on. It's four minutes.

You can 'not talk' for four minutes. It's not that hard. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Grogan, return to your comments, please.

I remind senators that interjecting is disorderly, and it's not helpful. Senator GROGAN: We are working very closely with all of the people we can to pull all of the levers we can to ameliorate the impact of these global challenges. These are supply challenges that we can't influence at source, but we are doing everything we can to influence them everywhere along the supply chain.

We are making moves to ensure that price gouging is dealt with. We cannot have companies of any sort out there making a buck out of the challenges for people on the ground in Australia. This government is doing everything we can to make a difference to Australians on the ground when we are faced with what is a global challenge.

We cannot control global events, but we can control how we respond to them.