The Opposition has accused the government of sending mixed messages about Australia’s fuel crisis as questions continue about how a major refinery fire in Victoria will impact the nation’s supply.
Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume told Sunrise on Friday that Australians were receiving conflicting signals about the severity of the situation, warning the impact was already being felt nationwide.
WATCH THE VIDEO ABOVE: Fuel crisis deepens as Geelong refinery fire compounds supply fears
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“There’s already 468 petrol stations around the country that still haven’t got one or both kinds of fuel,” Hume said, adding the situation could worsen in the wake of the Geelong refinery fire.
Hume said businesses in Perth, including mining equipment hirers and car dealerships, have seen their operations “simply dried up” due to the fuel crisis and the “lack of certainty”.
She called on the government to establish a national dashboard showing fuel distribution, shortages and incoming shipments, arguing greater transparency would help restore confidence.
The criticism comes as the government scrambles to contain the fallout from the fire at Viva Energy’s Geelong refinery, one of the country’s last remaining fuel production sites.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese travelled overnight from Malaysia to Victoria for an urgent briefing at Viva Energy’s Corio refinery near Geelong, as concerns grow over potential impacts to fuel production and supply.
He said the majority of fuel production was continuing despite the damage, with about 80 per cent of diesel and aviation fuel output proceeding and around 60 per cent of petrol production still operating.
Jane Hume has slammed the government’s ‘mixed messages’ amid claims 468 petrol stations are running short nationwide in an on-air debate with Health Minister Mark Butler. Credit: Sunrise
Speaking on Sunrise, Health Minister Mark Butler acknowledged the incident had already affected the refinery’s ability to produce petrol and aviation gasoline, describing it as “an event that couldn’t have happened at a worse time for Australia”.
While the government has moved to secure additional fuel from overseas, Butler conceded the outlook remained uncertain.
“We’re out there getting as much fuel from the global market that we possibly can get, but of course, we’ve got to prepare for the possibility that this will get worse before it gets better, and we will start to see shortages,” he said.
He said current supplies were stable in the short term.
“We’ve got good supply now to the end of May. We’re out there getting as much fuel from the global market that we possibly can get,” he said.
However, he warned the government could not rely on optimism alone.
“You can’t govern on hope alone, and that’s why we’ve got the National Fuel Security Plan,” Butler said.
Energy analyst Sol Kavanek told Sunrise on Friday the fire had struck at a critical moment, compounding already severe global supply pressures linked to the Middle East conflict and the closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“We now have a double whammy effect where 10 per cent of our national refined fuels are disrupted at exactly the same time that we’re hitting a major crunch point in global fuel shortages due to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the wake of the Iran war,” Kavanek said.
“In order to replace the fuel that would have been made in the Geelong refinery, we’re now going to have to scramble additional sources of refined fuels on the international market, just at a time when the international market has very little spare supply available.”
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A major fire at the Geelong oil refinery in Victoria has disrupted 10% of Australia’s national refined fuel supply during a critical period of global fuel shortages caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran conflict.
A major fire at the Geelong oil refinery in Victoria has disrupted 10% of Australia’s national refined fuel supply during a critical period of global fuel shortages caused by the closure of the Strait of Hormuz amid the Iran conflict.
He said the government must act quickly to shore up supply and rebuild confidence.
“We need to see leadership from the government to make sure that this super vulnerable position that Australia finds itself in regarding fuel, which has been exposed over the last month, is changed so that we have much more self-sufficiency in our fuels in the future and never find ourselves in such a difficult situation again,” he said.
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