QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE: TAKE NOTE OF ANSWERS
Senator COLLINS (New South Wales—Deputy Opposition Whip in the Senate) (16:24): I tell you what, talk about looking in the rear-view mirror. This is the government right here right now. What are they doing?
Senator McKenzie: That's right. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Polley ): Senator McKenzie, you interjected on those on the opposite side. Can you please not interject on your own senator.
Senator COLLINS: Thank you, Acting Deputy President Polley, but I encourage Senator McKenzie to interject. The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: It's disorderly— Senator COLLINS: I will— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT: Senator Collins, I asked you to resume your seat. I am in the chair at the moment, and it is not helpful when you encourage your colleague, because it is disorderly.
Senator COLLINS: Let me explain myself a little more fully. I think we need more senators in this place that are shouting to the rooftops about this issue. There are Australian families out there, Australian farmers and now people in the cities that don't have access to fuel.
It is not just a problem for this week; it is a problem for next week, it's a problem for next month and the wintertime and the summertime when all of those farmers that haven't been able to sow their seed and that have no crops will end up in a very dire straight indeed. And so, yes, I encourage people to stand in here and scream and yell about this problem.
I tell you what, we are not getting any answers from this government about what they're going to do. We have heard from Senator Ayres, and I'm glad he's in the chamber here today to hear this—we have heard from Senator Ayres, for the past two weeks, that, firstly, it's not a problem; secondly, it's a problem with the Australian people filling up their jerry cans; and, thirdly, they don't have any plan at all to deal with that.
There is no guarantee about what they are going to do about this rationing, there is no guarantee about what they're going to do about the distribution, and there is no guarantee about what they are going to do about the rising prices. It is a problem for all of us. We have heard from our senators in the opposition today that the waste industry is not on the priority fuel list.
What's going to happen when supermarkets and aged care don't get their waste collected? Who's going to pick it up? It is going to be a public health catastrophe.
We have an economic catastrophe. We have a public health catastrophe. We have ports that are potentially going to grind to a halt.
Vegetable growers are reducing their production. A quarter of the growers have said that they will reduce or stop their planting. Just have a think about what that's going to do for your Coles shelves and the Woolies shelves when you go and buy your apples and bananas for your school lunches.
We have a government that has its head in the sand on this issue. There is no plan for any of this. They stand there, and they look in the rear-view mirror, and they point at the failures of previous governments.
It is their job now to be dealing with this issue. We need communication with the Australian people. They don't need to be told that this is right-wing scaremongering, disinformation or misinformation.
They just want to feel secure. They want to be able to plan. They want to be able to go away on holidays.
They want to be able to know that, when they cross the Nullarbor, they're going to have somewhere to fill up their car and the kids in the back won't be stranded in the heat. This is what we have. We have a government that has lost control.
They've lost control of the Australian security, of the budget and of themselves. Question agreed to.