Thursday, 19 March 2026

 Peter WALSH (Murray Plains) (09:57): The conflict in the Middle East is another wake-up call for Victoria when it comes to our ability to produce food and have it transported to where the consumers are in a timely manner. Despite being a member of the International Energy Agency and obligated under that agreement to hold 90 days of net oil imports, Australia has not met this target since 2012 because of declining domestic refinery capacity and rising imports. We have barely half the targeted reserves with only 30 or 40 days supply. Yes, it would be expensive to build the reserve to 90 days, but what is the cost if our food supply chain collapses because crops cannot be planted or harvested on time? Our ability to feed the nation relies on having fuel when it is needed. Our farmers cannot produce food without fertiliser, which is also mostly imported and now in short supply and has more than doubled in price because of the conflict in the Middle East. We sell LPG cheap overseas and import expensive urea. Again, a wake-up call that we need to become more self-sufficient in fertiliser to be able to feed the nation in the event of world shocks like war. Heed the wake-up call, build our strategic fuel reserves and start manufacturing urea instead of exporting our LPG cheaply before there is another world crisis.