ADJOURNMENT

Mr WILKIE (Clark) (12:57): Not long ago, I was approached in the street by a constituent who was outraged that Australia's top fuel retailer, Ampol, had recorded a fivefold increase in profits, largely off the back of the Iran war, and Ampol is not alone. Indeed, a Guardian investigation found that eight of the biggest oil companies in the world banked profits of more than $90 billion in the June quarter, the first full quarter since the Iran war began.

That's up almost 100 per cent on the same period last year. That's $700,000 a minute in profit while some families are being forced to skip meals due to grocery prices. At the same time, small businesses are struggling with their overheads and with keeping valued staff on, while pensioners are deciding whether they can afford to fill the car or buy their medicines.

It's also $700,000 a minute while many people are facing missile and drone attacks, others are trapped on oil tankers and other blockaded ships, and many people continue to be killed. The contrast is as obscene as it is revealing. These companies would tell us that prices are determined by markets, influenced by geopolitical uncertainty, supply risks and global demand.

They like to hide behind the language of economics. But let's be clear: there's a profound difference between making a profit from productive activity and making a windfall from war and human misery. Australians understand this instinctively.

They know the difference between fair reward and profiteering, and they know that, when a conflict overseas translates into another hit to the family budget while oil giants report record earnings, something is deeply wrong. It's particularly galling when the government made a big song and dance of beefing up the powers of the ACCC to crack down on price gouging.

They claimed the ACCC would be a tough cop on the beat on this. But can anyone name any company that's been held to account for what appears to me to be obvious war profiteering? I certainly can't, and the constituent who approached me couldn't either.

An added layer of insult to the price gouging and cost-of-living impact is that it's been possible as a direct result of the actions of the United States, supposedly our closest ally. The Trump administration launched its illegal and ill-conceived war on Iran—a moved not opposed by the Australian government initially, I might add—without consulting its allies or considering the impacts on geopolitical stability and global oil prices.

At the time the war started, I warned that it was illegal, that the broader impacts would be widespread suffering of innocent civilians and greater geopolitical stability. I suggested that it was not acceptable to say in this or any case that the end justifies the means. Well, in this case, the ends certainly haven't been justified.

The Iranian regime has been strengthened. Many innocent people have died. Middle Eastern allies have been attacked.

The Strait of Hormuz is unnavigable to most, and the global economy is being crushed while the fossil fuel companies make killer profits. Mission accomplished indeed. It's not just oil companies profiteering here in Australia.

The gas companies are making a killing, exporting Australian gas, but the government continues to resist calls for a gas export tax or at least an effective tax. Instead, it allows these multinational gas exporters to ship vast quantities of Australia's publicly owned resources offshore at record prices, making record profits, while returning next to nothing to the Australian people.

Sure, we do need to be careful with our bilateral energy agreements—for example, Japan relies on our gas and we rely on their liquid fuels—but that should not mean we never consider a new taxation regime. People are tired of being told that their sacrifice is necessary, while corporate profits soar. They keep having to pay more at the pump or on their electricity bill every time a crisis erupts somewhere in the world.

But when the Australian people reasonably suggest that some of the wealthiest companies could pay their fair share too, the government wrings its hands and says it's just not possible. That constituent I referred to at the start of this short contribution, the one who stopped me in the street, had a straightforward point: how can all this be fair, especially when diesel in Canberra as recently as this morning is selling for $2.91.5 per litre?

It's a question that millions of Australians are asking, and, until we can provide a convincing answer, the public's outrage is entirely justified.