Chris Bowen
McMahon · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“This builds on very important investments in our community, including 3,000 presentations to the Fairfield Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, including, in a couple of instances, members of my own family; 25,000 presentations to the Wentworthville urgent care clinic, which is important for the Greystanes and Pemulwuy community; and 22,000 prese…”
“Well, it's 1 July, an important day in our ambitions to deliver real change for Australians—real change that the Australian people instructed us to commence in 2022 and instructed us to keep going with in 2025. It's an important day with that real change and with a very strong focus on cost-of-living relief.”
“I thank the honourable member for the question. I can confirm for the honourable member that there is nothing 'so called' about free power when it's a requirement of law for the energy companies to provide it as an option to people in the relevant jurisdictions, including the constituents of Fowler.”
“I thank the honourable member for the question and thank her for our recent visit to a wonderful part of the world. One of the things we did was talk about cheaper home batteries. Today is 1 July, which means the cheaper home batteries policy is officially one year old today.”
“For those people who take that offer up, Morgan Stanley have found, for example, that some families could save $660 a year, which we on this side of the house think is a good thing. Those on that side of the house are opposed to it.”
“When we came to office, home batteries were in one in 60 houses. Now it's one in 17. That's wonderful for those families that are reducing their bills, in many cases to nothing and in some cases getting a rebate instead of a bill, but it's very good for putting downward pressure on energy prices for everyone.”
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“We've fixed refinery support to underpin the important role these facilities play in domestic supply. We've appointed Anthea Harris as Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator to support coordination across governments and sectors. And we are working directly with international suppliers to keep scheduled arrivals on track. The longer this war goes on, the more severe the impacts will be. This global crisis continues to present new national challenges, which is why we'll continue to take new national actions. Today we take the next step to ensure Australia remains prepared. Our focus is on acting now to insulate Australians as best we can from what lies ahead. The fact is that the broader international environment is becoming increasingly volatile.”
“I move: That this bill be now read a second time. The events of the past few weeks have been a reminder to us all that while Australia is an island, we are not removed from the world. Right now, a war being fought on the other side of the world is having a real impact on Australians here at home. No country will be immune from the impacts of this conflict. But what governments can and must do is act. That's exactly what this government has done. Acting decisively and planning for new challenges that might arise. We have boosted fuel supply by releasing up to 20 per cent of the baseline Minimum Stockholding Obligation for petrol and diesel. Those stocks are now flowing across the country to the areas that need it most. We've acted to get more fuels into the Australian market by temporarily amending the fuel standards.”
“I wish to add to an answer. In question time today, in relation to service stations in Victoria, I said there were 45 stations with no diesel and 72 stations with no unleaded. It was, in fact, the other way around; I misread it. There are 72 with no diesel and 45 with no unleaded. I just wanted to make sure that the House was clear.”
“I will tell the House what is unhelpful—not recognising that Australia's fuel supply is secure, not accepting the fact that the ships that have been cancelled have been replaced and misleading Australians that somehow some of the fuel from our refineries is being exported at the moment, which just isn't true, and linking it somehow to net zero. That is all untrue and unhelpful. This is a time for the nation to come together. We'll be working hard—we are working hard and have been working hard—to ensure that Australians have access to fuel not only over Easter, which the honourable member just asked me about, but—”
“I thank the honourable member for her question and I reiterate the figures I revealed earlier in question time. For example, Ampol's distribution to regional Queensland, which is up very substantially, year on year, shows that the entire industry is working hard to catch up with the massive spike in demand that we saw after 28 February. I would have thought the honourable member would welcome that increase in supply and recognise that it is working, and will work, to deal with those shortages, which we all agree are unacceptable. As I've said, there are so many people working so hard across government and across industry, collaboratively, to see this dealt with. That is helpful.”
“That would be the case regardless of who is in office. In relation—the honourable member put a lot into the question, to be fair! In relation to service station updates, I've been giving those each day—more than happy to do so. I would point out to the House that every state has an app or a website where service station information is available, and every state collects that as a matter of law. If honourable members want to argue for a national system; that has been tried before—and I seem to recall who was for it and who was against it.”
“I thank the honourable member for her question. I would say to Shane, as I say to the honourable member and as I say to the House, that this government has been taking action since 28 February to ensure that our nation deals with this very difficult international situation in a way which makes sure that Australians have confidence that they have supply and that the supply that comes to Australia is distributed to them. That's what we've been doing. The honourable member talks about petrol prices. We've always said, as my predecessors have said—it has long been the situation for energy ministers and treasurers who consistently say it because it happens to be true—the biggest impact on petrol prices will be oil prices internationally. That will always be the case, and oil prices are high for pretty obvious reasons.”
“This data is collected primarily by the states. The Commonwealth data is shared with the states regularly. The states share data with me regularly, and of course premiers are providing daily updates as well.”
“New South Wales today has 178 with no diesel, 48 with a total stock out. Queensland has 55 with no diesel, 33 with no regular unleaded. Victoria has 45 with no diesel, down 20, and 72 with no unleaded, down 70. South Australia has nine with no diesel, 10 with no unleaded. Western Australia has 40 with no diesel, 14 with no unleaded. Tasmania has five with no diesel and nine with some sort of outage. No outages in the Northern Territory are attributable to a lack of fuel supply. In the ACT, currently, there are two with no diesel and one with no unleaded. But, as I said yesterday, I'm advised that these shortages in the ACT are typically dealt with within the hour. Now, I will continue, as appropriate, to be giving the Australian people updates as I have done for the last month, as do state premiers.”
“But the fact that that supply to regional Australia is up substantially shows that the measures this government has put in place with industry, and in working closely in collaboration with the states, are seeing real progress, which is what Australians so desperately deserve and are receiving.”
“Their supplies, in total, including to their own retail outlets, are up, for example, 34 per cent in New South Wales and up 44 per cent in South Australia—I would have thought members from regional South Australia would welcome that—and are up 27 per cent in total. That does not mean there aren't shortages, as we're dealing with the increased demand and with recovering as the supply chain recovers, as it had to during COVID. In so many instances, when you get a big increase in demand, it takes time for the supply chain to recover to backfill the existing demand.”
“On behalf of the government, I want to say thank you to them. I can report to the House that today Ampol has advised me about, for example, their year-on-year supplies to regional Australia and their supplies to independent distributors. For example, supplies in March this year compared to March last year are 40 per cent higher to independent suppliers in regional New South Wales, 33 per cent higher in regional Queensland, 66 per cent higher in South Australia, 22 per cent higher in Tasmania, 19 per cent higher in Victoria and 64 per cent higher in Western Australia. That's Ampol's supplies to independent distributors.”
“What we're dealing with are a couple of things, and it's important to run through them for the House. We saw demand increase very dramatically and we saw suppliers, not unreasonably and, in fact, lawfully and legally, making sure that they supplied petrol to the people who had orders in advance—that is, people on contract. People in the spot market have not been able to be supplied at the same rate, as those contracts are honoured in the first instance—those people who ordered petrol in advance under the contract system. But we have been working very hard, and I do want to take this opportunity to say that there are a lot of people working hard at the moment. People in refineries, truckies, people in my department and people in state departments are working very hard—long hours—to try and see these shortages addressed.”
“I thank my friend and very valued neighbour and south-west Sydney colleague, the member for Werriwa, for the question. As the Prime Minister has indicated, supply to our country does remain strong. Of the six ships that we informed the nation had been cancelled on the weekend, all have been replaced with alternative supplies from alternative countries and at least three other spot cargo offers have been confirmed and are on their way to Australia. That's a good thing. And our two refineries are working full pelt with all their production exclusively for Australian use, and that is certainly the way it should be in this situation. That is not to say—as the government has always recognised—that there aren't real shortages, particularly in regional areas, that need to be addressed.”
“I thank the honourable member for the question, and I thank her for accurately quoting the Premier of New South Wales, which is a big step forward on yesterday—a big step forwards—after the member for Lindsay completely misquoted and misrepresented the Premier of New South Wales. She just dropped the word 'if', which does rather a lot of heavy lifting in that sentence.”
“This government has been taking action, and we've released, as I just outlined, 757 million litres from the minimum stock obligation on the condition that it flows. Some of the undertakings given to us under that will see flow to Toowoomba and the Darling Downs, to those areas affected by flooding; more fuel for local councils in the Atherton Tablelands and Mareeba; more allocations to support Indigenous communities and get fuel up to Cape York—”
“With real obligations to supply regional states and territories across the country, that's what real action looks like. I'm also happy to inform the House—the Prime Minister's informed the house of his interactions, of the Foreign minister's interactions and of my interactions with our foreign counterparts to ensure ongoing supply. We know that, because we have only two refineries operating in Australia, we do rely on imports when it comes to liquid fuels. That is the case because we did see the de-industrialization of refining over previous years. I previously have informed the House that we were aware that, out of the 81 expected ship arrivals over April, there were six cancellations. I do have an important update. I can tell the House that—”
“I thank my honourable friend for the question. I think this is his first question since returning from paternity leave, so welcome back and congratulations. I'm very pleased to update the honourable member and the House, and I'll update the House primarily, firstly, on two things. As the House knows, we released 20 per cent of our minimum stock obligation on the condition that it flows to rural and regional Australia. We have struck agreements with each company that's impacted. We have been in discussions with those companies and required them to provide real and quantifiable undertakings that it flow to regional Australia. I'm pleased to inform the House that, overnight, two more agreements were struck, and now 757 million litres is flowing to regional Australia as a result of the release of the minimum-stock obligation.”
“It reminds me of the demand that the House return to pass hate legislation, then voting against it and then voting against other legislation and demanding we use it.”
“I did make that comment because it's accurate, and that is the position the government has been communicating consistently to the Australian people because the responsible thing to do is to provide the facts to the Australian people—that the ships continue to arrive and that the refineries continue to work full pelt for Australians. As we have said from the very beginning, that does not mean there aren't real shortages in rural Australia in particular and that the supply chain has not struggled when demand doubles. And that has always been the case. Now, the honourable member asked me why I won't use more information-gathering powers. It does strike me that, to use those powers, we would need to use the legislation that the Treasurer put through the parliament and the member for Wannon and everyone else over there opposed.”
“As I said yesterday, the Northern Territory is in the grip of a natural disaster, and, of course, there are impacts on service stations, with access and roads. In the ACT, there is currently one service station with no diesel, but my advice is that the service stations with no diesel in the ACT are normally having that rectified in a matter of hours.”
“I might do it state by state, territory by territory. In New South Wales, there are 187 with no diesel and 32 without any stock at all. That's down 19 on yesterday. That's out of a total of 2,417 service stations in New South Wales. Queensland figures remain 55 with no diesel and 35 with no regular unleaded. In Victoria, there are 134 with a lack of one or more grades. That's down 28 on the last report. South Australia has 49 out of 700. Western Australia remains at six with a total stock-out and four with no diesel, out of 771 service stations. Tasmania—it remains my advice—has one with no diesel and six with no unleaded. In the Northern Territory, the advice remains the same—that there are no shortages as a result of fuel shortage.”
“I thank the honourable member for her question. Perhaps the honourable member didn't take in when I read out the communique from energy ministers—when we agreed to work together on coordination measures over the coming weeks and months. That's why we appointed a supply coordinator to work not just across the federal bureaucracy but across the states to work with industry, because that is the appropriate thing to do. But this question really goes to the approach of the opposition here—asking constructive questions about fuel supply, making constructive suggestions? No. Fearmongering, disinformation—that's the opposition's approach.”
“In relation to the honourable member's question about the Liquid Fuel Emergency Act, I've pointed out before that the test for invoking that act is very high, quite rightly. It has never been invoked in the last 40 years—not through the two gulf crises, not through COVID and not at any other time.Of course, it is there to be invoked if necessary, but at this point I am not envisaging requiring that. Indeed, the measures that I refer to show what can be done without invoking that act.”
“I can also tell the honourable member that, as part of the release of the Minimum Stockholding Obligation, although the member is right that bunker fuel is not in the Minimum Stockholding Obligation, we were nevertheless able to make a condition of the release of the Minimum Stockholding Obligation, prioritising maritime oil supply for cargo and passenger vessels to Tasmania, ports, fisheries and forestry. That has been done as part of the MSO release. I can also tell the member for Clark that approximately 13 per cent of the production from Geelong is for fuel oil, and last year total fuel oil production in Australia averaged 23 million litres a month, with the production of fuel oil supported by the announcement I just referred to that we made on Friday of support for our two refineries to ensure that Australian domestic capability.”
“I thank the honourable member for the question and the spirit in which he raises it, on behalf of his electorate and in the national interest. The honourable member is right. There are a range of bunker fuels used in domestic and international shipping. Marine fuel is one of the most significant, along with marine diesel. Fuel oil accounted for one per cent of Australia's refined product use in 2025. I do know that the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government is engaging directly with the maritime sector, and I can tell the member for Clark that I've also engaged directly with the Tasmanian minister for energy and renewables, and we are working well together.”
“I refer the honourable gentleman to my answer yesterday in which I confirmed to the House the great revelation that the energy ministers had met last Friday and issued a communique, which is not a secret document. For the benefit of honourable members opposite, the communique reads, in part: Ministers agreed that there are shared responsibilities and it will be critical to work together to maintain fuel security by anticipating risks and enabling timely, coordinated responses. Ministers tasked Senior Officials to regularly report on fuel security and potential responses. Ministers will continue to monitor fuel supplies and work together to respond as the situation evolves. A communique!”
“These are practical measures taken by a government taking action in the face of international uncertainty when all we have seen from the opposition is partisanship, not patriotism.”
“Releasing 20 per cent of the minimum stock obligation was not an easy decision and not a decision lightly taken but 100 per cent the right decision in the circumstances—and not just released carte blanche but released on the condition from those entities that they will see the spot market and the regional areas supplied. That is having an effect now. The increase in sulphur rules, which could not apply to diesel despite some members opposite saying it should, simply could not be allowed to be applied to diesel. And this flashpoint decision today will see additional diesel supply into Australia, which will see increased supply from our refiners and increased flexibility for our refiners.”
“We should do everything sensible to increase supply, so I can announce today that I have changed the diesel standards when it comes to the combustion temperature and allowed a slightly lower combustion temperature of 60.5 degrees, which is called the flashpoint and which provides a little more flexibility to importers as to what diesel we can import into Australia and a little more flexibility for refiners to switch between fuels as well. These are practical measures, not suggested by the opposition—not suggested at any point by any member opposite—but taken by us to get the job done. These are the sorts of practical things which add to what we've already done.”
“On Friday last, in Brisbane, I announced changes to the fuel security services payment to ensure that our two existing refineries continue to operate after a decade where we saw the de-industrialisation of Australian refining and saw four refineries shut their operations in Australia. Enough! No refinery will close under the Albanese government, and the payments we announced on Friday in Brisbane will ensure that that is the case. I'm very pleased to have been able to work with the refiners to ensure that that is the case. Today, I can announce further measures, because we continue to see shortages in diesel. Despite the fact our national stocks are strong and imports continue to arrive, we continue to see shortages around the country, as honourable members have said.”
“I thank my honourable friend for the question and for everything he's done in this House since he arrived here this year. We've heard this week from the President of the European Commission and the Executive Director of the International Energy Agency about just how acute this international crisis is, and both made the point that no country is immune from its impacts—a point the Prime Minister and I and the entire government have been making now for the best part of a month. There will be impacts. We need to prepare, and we need to ensure that we use this as an opportunity to increase our sovereign capability as well.”
“The Leader of the Opposition interjected, which I'll take. He said, 'It's only increases in demand.' If the Leader of the Opposition could point to one ship that hasn't arrived or one refinery that isn't working— Opposition members interjecting— As the government has made clear on multiple occasions, every ship that has been expected has arrived. We have very transparently said that there have been cancellations in April. The Leader of the Opposition is the one who has misled people and said that we are stopping exports from Australia, which is not true.”
“The government's plan is to work to increase the fuel supply in Australia by releasing 20 per cent of the minimum stock obligation, which we have done. We have done so on the condition from the minimum stock entities that they see that fuel flowing to regional Australia. That has been entered into and has been implemented. I also announced a temporary relaxation of the rules for sulphur for petrol, which will see an extra 100 million litres of fuel be supplied to the system each month. In addition, the Prime Minister has convened National Cabinet, I've convened energy ministers, and we have agreed to keep working together on contingency plans. We will work every day with refiners and with suppliers to ensure that that fuel flows to where there are real shortages as a result of the increases in demand that we have seen across Australia.”
“In the Northern Territory, the Northern Territory administration advises me that there are no shortages as a result of fuel supply, but there are of course issues in relation to flooding and road access, and there are no outages in the ACT.”
“I thank the honourable gentleman for the question. In New South Wales, the figure is164 without diesel, 289 without at least one type of fuel. In Queensland the figure is 55 with no diesel and 35 with no regular unleaded. That's out of 1,800 service stations. I should have said, in New South Wales, those figures are out of 2,417 service stations. In Victoria, the figure is 162 with one or more grades unavailable out of 1,627 service stations. In South Australia, it's 46 with one or more grades unavailable out of 700. In Western Australia, I'm advised it's six out of 771, with the total stock out. In Tasmania, it is one with no diesel and six with no unleaded out of 250 service stations.”
“I remind the member for Cook that, when he went on social media yesterday and said the Australian government is forcing diesel and petrol to be exported, that is a lie.”
“I thank the honourable member for his question. As I indicated in previous answers, there was a meeting of state and territory ministers with me on Friday, literally. And as I indicated on Friday, we compared notes on contingency planning and our respective powers. There is no Watergate here. That is what I announced on Friday. As I indicated to the member for Monash before, there is the National Liquid Fuel Emergency Response Plan, which was agreed by all governments in 2006 and has been endorsed by all governments since then as a gradation of changes. In this environment, I would also remind all honourable members of the need for factual information when communicating with the public. I would remind the member for Cook, of the need for factual information when communicating with members of the public.”
“I made clear yesterday that I think we're a long way from that, but of course the Commonwealth and the states will work together for prudent contingency planning in a very challenged international environment.”
“I thank the honourable member for her question. Of course I have engaged with my department in prudent contingency planning. As I indicated again on the weekend, the establishment of a national fuel emergency would be a very significant step—it's never been done, and that's what would be required. However, states have considerable powers, and that's why that's outlined in the National Liquid Fuel Emergency Response Plan, which was agreed by COAG in 2006. That indicates that voluntary restraint—i.e. public information campaigns requesting people to save fuel—would be the first step, and that only after that would any further actions be considered.”
“We'll continue to work with the states cooperatively through the National Cabinet and through the energy ministers council, which convened on Friday. National Cabinet convened earlier in the week, and both will convene again soon and will continue to share information. I am participating in a Tasmanian roundtable at the request of the acting—”
“I thank the honourable member for the question. I have these figures, state by state. In New South Wales at the moment, there are 37, out of a total of 2,444 service stations. In Queensland, there are 47 outlets with no diesel and 32 with no regular unleaded, out of just over 1,800 service stations. In Victoria at the end of last week, we saw 109 outlets with one or more grades unavailable—that is how the Victorian government collects that information—and today's update is that around 50 stations are out of diesel. I have further updates for Western Australia, more by supplier than by service station, and I am pleased to say—and I've been speaking to some Western Australian members opposite about this—that we are seeing more fuel flow in Western Australia and those numbers come down.”
“I refer the honourable member to my previous answer, which was that we have been in constant contact every day, usually more than once a day, with the chief executives of energy companies. They have been telling me that there was uncertainty from mid-April onwards, which is what I've said publicly. And yesterday we went out and confirmed six cancellations or delays—which are not happening now but are scheduled for April—and they largely have been replaced. That is what updating the Australian people factually is about. The alternative is to mislead the Australian people.”
“I thank my honourable friend for the question. Whether it is liquid fuels in petrol or diesel, or in electricity, we enter this international crisis, which the visiting chief executive of the International Energy Agency has said is the worst we have ever faced today, better prepared than ever before. We certainly have that as the case when it comes to liquid fuels. On Saturday, we updated our supply figures to show that there are 38 days worth of petrol and 30 days worth of diesel and jet fuel in Australia, as we speak—held in Australia, where the Australian strategic reserve should be. So we were able to release some of that in relation to diesel and petrol on the condition that it flows to regional Australia. And more than 500 million litres is flowing to regional Australia as we speak—”
“They have also advised me more recently of the six cancellations—which is still the current number—and several of those have been replaced with new sources, as I said very transparently on Insiders yesterday and hid away in an interview on the ABC. Six out of the 81 expected deliveries over that time have been cancelled or deferred and have now, at least to some degree, been replaced with new supply.”
“I thank the honourable member for his question. As the government has made crystal clear in recent days and weeks, every expected delivery of fuel has arrived on schedule to this point. We have also made crystal clear at every opportunity that there has been uncertainty from mid to late April onwards. That's been consistent. That has been consistent in every single statement we've made. As the Prime Minister has indicated, we're in constant contact: I have spoken to the chief executives of Ampol and Viva every day, in effect, and sometimes several times a day— The chief executives of the two refineries in Australia have been advising me of the uncertainty from mid-April onwards.”
“I thank the honourable member for his question. I seem to recall he was excluded from the House earlier in the week. Maybe that's why he didn't hear my answer to the member for Mackellar, where I said that the government's policy has not changed and pointed out that it provides strong support for farmers. That's what I said earlier in the week to the member for Mackellar. That's what I say to the honourable member.”
“I thank the honourable member for the question, although I must confess I'm a little surprised that I've just announced an additional 100 million litres of supply and the opposition has not asked a question about it.”
“They wanted us less prepared for this, not more prepared. Not only did they keep the fuel supplies in Texas, but, as the Treasurer has outlined, just last year, this government legislated for this very eventuality. This government legislated better preparations. It said: The Bill amends the Minimum Stockholding Obligation for fuel importers and refiners to provide the relevant Minister with additional tools to manage critical fuel shortages and ensure Australia is not hampered by temporary shortages.”
“I thank the honourable member for the question. It may have escaped members opposite, but there's a war going on. Do I regard a war as a crisis? Yes, I do. Do I regard the implications of that war, when it comes to fuel internationally, as a crisis? Yes, I do. That's why the International Energy Agency last night agreed to the largest coordinated action in its history. I spent time on the phone last night with the executive director of the IEA discussing that international crisis. And I'll tell you what: if a farmer can't get fuel, do I think it is a crisis for that farmer? Yes, I do. Maybe those opposite don't agree. If a fishing company can't get access to diesel for fishing, do I think it's a crisis for that company? Yes, I do. Apparently, I think, the members opposite don't. I understand their sensitivity.”