Shadow Portfolio — 31 March 2026

The Member for Parkes, Mr Chaffey, used two separate House interventions on 31 March to press on Australia's fuel supply crisis — first welcoming the Prime Minister's agreement to cut the fuel excise by 26 cents a litre, then drilling into the government's forward shipping projections [TA-260331-house-66782c600be9:s022].

In the earlier procedural contribution, Mr Chaffey framed the excise reduction as essential relief for farmers and small transport operators who face daily cost increases of $1,500, and for regional constituents caught between constrained fuel availability and sharply higher prices [TA-260331-house-66782c600be9:s022]. He called for bipartisan cooperation on future fuel-supply risk, grounding the appeal in the structural dependency of Australia's regions on diesel.

The framing is consistent with a National Party approach that treats fuel security as a regional-economic issue as much as an energy one.

During Question Time, Mr Chaffey directed a supply-chain question to the Minister for Climate Change and Energy, asking how many ships are expected to arrive in May — placing on record that the minister had previously stated 53 vessels were already in transit and approximately 81 were scheduled for April [TA-260331-house-66782c600be9:s130]. The question functions as accountability tracking: by citing the minister's own earlier figures, Mr Chaffey invites the government to account for whether forward supply is keeping pace with demand.

Taken together, the two interventions form a coherent same-day arc. The morning contribution claimed credit for the excise cut while anchoring the case in regional hardship; the afternoon question pressed the government on whether the underlying supply problem — the driver of that hardship — is actually being resolved. The records do not capture the minister's response to the May shipping question, which is a gap in the picture.