Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is very important, for a range of reasons, that we keep independents in the market. Obviously, regional areas are absolutely crucial in that. You can go to any small town and find independents there. That is one of the issues I had with the legislation that talked about sites. They are usually smaller volumetric sites—small sites in what they produce—but they are vitally important to the lifeblood of the town. One of the great fears that we have with this legislation is that we may end up with oil companies deciding not to supply them because it is uneconomic. What we are going to have is complete social dislocation.

Just imagine a small town like Surat, in Queensland, which is 75 kilometres from Roma to the north and 120 kilometres from St George in the south. You can forget about the closest towns to the east or the west; they are about 200 kilometres in each direction. There is one fuel station. What are you saying about the lifestyle of the people in that town when you close the fuel station down and their cars have to have the fuel capacity, and enough fuel, to go 75 kilometres to Roma and 75 kilometres back? They have to take a 150-kilometre round trip to possibly cover the five kilometres around town to do the shopping and such things. It is a vital part of life. I suppose you could tell them to walk. You could say, ‘People in these towns do not deserve the right to own a vehicle.’