It is understandable Mallee residents would be furious about local fuel supply shortages.  The Albanese Labor Government are untrustworthy, and this has yet again become crystal clear in this latest marathon sitting of Parliament in Canberra.

The Nationals in Opposition have been asking Questions non-stop in Canberra about why we have a fuel supply problem, particularly in regional Australia.  Energy Minister Chris Bowen kept insisting there is no supply issue, but under persistent Opposition pressure, the Albanese Government began announcing fuel supply interventions.

Mallee petrol stations have been running out of diesel and unleaded.  Minister Bowen admits over 100 Victorian petrol stations have run out of fuel, far more than in most other states.

At the time of writing the Government had not committed to a national dashboard of fuel outages, and The Nationals are running NoFuelHere.com.au so you can report outages in your town.

The Nationals are also proposing that we drill for more oil and gas and approve more liquid fuel alternatives including biodiesel and ethanol.  The Coalition increased diesel storage by 40 per cent in Government, and we created the Minimum Stockholding Obligation that has proven to be the right move during this crisis.

The Nationals want to further increase our in-country fuel reserves.  Australia also needs a larger on-shore fuel refining capacity, and a dedicated national fuel security budget.

While the world has changed, tired old Labor are dusting off the Covid-era playbook.

First, Labor tried to gaslight and blame Australians for buying too much fuel.  Farmers who have had good rain recently are ready to sow their crops, and worried that if they can get diesel for sowing, will they have it for spraying and harvesting?  These are reasonable issues that Labor simply do not understand.  

Second, and as we see time and time again, whether it’s the collapse in real wages, rising interest rates or Labor’s home-grown cost of living crisis, the Albanese Labor Government says they are not responsible and events are out of their control.

Australia’s avoidable fuel supply shock comes at the worst possible time for regional events, tourism and families hoping to welcome family members home for the Eastern long weekend.  I encourage everyone to drive safe, plan ahead and enjoy some downtime this Easter.

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