ADJOURNMENT

Mr REBELLO (McPherson) (13:07): Australians have just had another reminder of how exposed our country can be to events that are half a world away. Conflict in the Middle East has sent fuel prices higher, and families are feeling the pinch. Tradies are paying more to get between jobs.

Small businesses face higher freight costs. Farmers, transport operators and industries that are dependent on diesel are feeling the pressure. Families commuting every day are, once again, being forced to find more room in already stretched household budgets.

But the lesson's bigger than just the price at the bowser. For too long, Australia has assumed that global markets will always deliver what we need, when we need it and at a price that we can afford. COVID should have shattered that assumption.

We saw supply chains break. We saw essential goods become scarce. We saw governments scrambling to secure basic supplies that, only weeks earlier, most Australians had simply assumed would always be there.

Yet, too often, once the immediate crisis passed, so did the urgency. Fuel is perhaps the clearest example. Australia's now down to just two oil refineries.

We're heavily reliant on imported fuel and on international supply chains that can be disrupted by conflict, by geopolitical tensions or by events that are entirely outside our control. That's not simply an economic vulnerability; it's a national security vulnerability. Fuel keeps our trucks moving, our food supply moving, our businesses operating and our defence forces functioning.

Island nations such as Australia cannot afford to be complacent about their ability to access the essentials that keep the country running. The same principle extends beyond fuel. Imagine walking into your local pharmacy and being told that the medicine you need is simply unavailable—not because you cannot afford it and not because there's an alternative sitting on the shelf, but because the international supply chain has broken and there's no domestic capability to fall back on.

That is what strategic vulnerability looks like. The answer is not to try and manufacture everything in Australia, nor is it to hand out permanent subsidies or to have government attempt to pick every winner. It is about being clear eyed about what capabilities are critical to our national interest, where we are dangerously dependent on others and where Australia has the skills and the potential to build greater resilience. that means targeted sovereign capability.

It means high-value, high-skill manufacturing where Australia can compete. It means cutting red tape, developing our workforce, keeping energy and input costs competitive and building the infrastructure that allows private investment to succeed. It means diversifying.

As I said in my first speech in this parliament, Australia should diversify both its imports and its exports so that we're not dangerously dependent on any one country or on any single point of failure. A diversified economy is a more resilient economy. The next crisis—it could be another conflict, it may be a pandemic, it may be a trade disruption or it may be something we have not yet imagined—whatever it is, will not wait for Australia to get ready.

We need to do that work now. I'd like to finish on a terrific local outcome for the southern end of the Gold Coast. Anyone who lives around Robina knows the infamous double roundabouts outside the Robina town centre.

We've all been there; we've all seen the many queues that build around exit 82. for residents of Robina, of Varsity Lakes, of Mudgeeraba, of Reedy Creek, of Merrimac and surrounds and for everybody from the member for Wright's electorate who comes to shop at the Robina town centre, this is not some abstract transport problem. It is lost time every morning and every afternoon sitting in congestion, and that is why I was delighted to see the Crisafulli LNP state government confirm an upgrade to exit 82 at Robina as part of its Gold Coast transport plan.

This is something I've been advocating for since before I was elected to this place, and I'd particularly like to recognise the Crisafulli LNP state government and Division 11 councillor, Dan Duran, who have worked tirelessly to see the issue addressed. Good infrastructure is not complicated; it's about identifying the bottlenecks and addressing them. An upgrade to exit 82 will help improve traffic flow, it will reduce congestion, and it will make daily travel easier for thousands of people across our local community.

It's a fantastic outcome for Robina and for the surrounding suburbs, and I look forward to seeing the project delivered.