Labor is eyeing more refineries as it moves to slash reliance on foreign fuel supplies amid global oil shocks sparked by the Iran conflict.
Importing 90 per cent of its fuel, the disruptions to Middle East oil shipments have exposed longstanding vulnerabilities in Australia’s energy security, with motorists paying record-high prices at the bowser and industry pleading with the government for help.
Anthony Albanese said on Thursday Australia needs to be “more self-sufficient” in an increasingly chaotic world.
“We’ve been prepared to intervene to make sure that we are more resilient and self-reliant,” the Prime Minister told the National Press Club, pointing to bailouts for Australian smelters and the newly established critical minerals reserve.
He said there are “some smaller improvements that we can make to potentially produce more diesel here”.
Asked if that meant more refineries, Mr Albanese said the government is “looking at all of those options”.
“We can’t assume … that we’ll get it from somewhere else because it’s cheaper somewhere else, and this market will operate, that is the world that we’re in. We are not, ” he said.
“We’re in a world where economic relationships are linked to national security.”
The comments came after Australia’s loudest conservative voices called for the government to scrap its green energy agenda and drill more oil and gas.
Speaking to Sky News on Wednesday night, Senator Hanson said the government has “never had a vision for the future to protect this nation with their own sovereignty, and this is the problem”.
“We are in one hell of a mess. We’ve lost over 1400 industries and manufacturing. We have lost 47,000 small businesses that have gone insolvent. These people have shut their businesses because of the cost of energy,” she said.
“We’ve got two refineries. Back in 2000, we had eight refineries. That supplied our needs throughout the whole country, and we were manufacturing about 320,000 cars a year and 28,000 commercial vehicles a year.
“Yet we can’t run it this day and time.
“They’re paying for these refineries, costing $2.3bn a year for these refineries to stay open to 2027, possibly 2030, and then what’s ‘gonna happen after that?
“We’ve got to drill for oil, we’ve got to drill for more gas.”
Also speaking to Sky on Thursday morning, Angus Taylor echoed Senator Hanson’s remarks.
The Opposition Leader said he would not “talk down to Australians” on managing fuel consumption in a thinly veiled swipe at Mr Albanese’s call for people to only take as much fuel as they need and consider using public transport to help reserves.
“Looking after each other is a core value of Australians, so I’m not going to lecture Australians about what they should do,” Mr Taylor said.
“But what the government needs to do is to give us clarity … We need to drill more for oil and gas.
“We need to use the budget to set our economy up for resilience, for hope, and right now, we’ve got a government that seems to be behind the eight ball.”
Australians have been weathering rising fuel costs duel to global oil shortages sparked by the Iran conflict.
The Albanese government has rolled out support measures to counter costs, including by temporarily halving the fuel excise and underwriting extra shipments.
However, the Treasury is war gaming recession strategies as economists predict global economic conditions to worsen before they get better.
