Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Madigan for his question. I would make the observation that we had two questions before—one from the left wing of the Australian Labor Party and one from the Australian Labor Party—which were complete and utter twaddle. I thank Senator Madigan for using Senate question time in the way it should be used.

Australia is part of a global petroleum supply chain that has access to diverse sources of oil and refined products, both onshore and offshore, through the global market. This has proven to be highly reliable in maintaining the supply of liquid fuel, even during the significant global and local disruptions. As the senator would know, Australia's fuel comes from reliable sources of crude and refined product from a range of countries. At any given time, Australia has a lot of crude oil and refined product on its way to Australia via diverse shipping routes. Oil and oil products are traded globally through deep and liquid markets, and the market has a very high capacity to respond to price signals to continue supply.

In response to the senator's direct question, I can say to him of course that this government does value our onshore refining capacity as part of this deep and diverse supply chain. The government, however, believes that refinery closures are a commercial decision to be determined by the owners and operators of those refineries. The government does, however, ensure that any refinery closures that do occur and the subsequent conversions to import terminals are done in an orderly manner with a smooth transition to minimise the potential impacts on motorists and industries.

The Department of Industry and Science commissioned a report in 2012 to assess any risks associated with refinery closures. The report, the National Energy Security Assessment, identified competitive pressures on domestic refining and assessed and tested Australian refinery closure scenarios. The main finding was that Australia was well placed to maintain domestic energy security. (Time expired)