David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This bill increases the fuel security outlook for Australia, which is a critical issue. We must have many more distributed sites of fuel storage. The whole nation depends on diesel and on getting it in the right place at the right time. Darwin and the Northern Territory could potentially run out of fuel with this just-in-time supply chain. Whether it is a natural disaster, like a cyclone; something inadvertent such as tankers being blocked up in the Suez Canal or the Panama Canal when things go awry there; or conflict in the South China Sea, we really need to ramp up. I note that adjacent to my electorate is the port of Newcastle, which has two areas for potential massive fuel storage, with Park Fuels, an Australian owned company, and Stolthaven. They both have facilities in the port of Newcastle and are strategically located for ease of distribution to the north and west of New South Wales. Using them would move a lot of the critical infrastructure for fuel storage out of the Sydney basin. There are also opportunities in Port Kembla, but I think the port of Newcastle, with its strategic links to a nearby international airport and to the mining industry, is a logical choice for some of this strategic fuel reserve to be located. I commend this bill to the House.

See this speech in context