Don Farrell (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Trade and Tourism) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator McDonald for her question. The fundamental issue that you raise, of course, is the reliability of gas supplies, particularly as they relate to the east coast of Australia. Of course, what happened was that, when we came to government almost two years ago, we discovered that the inaction of the former government over those previous 10 years had left Australia vulnerable to a shortage of available gas. Of course, what we immediately started to do, particularly under Minister Madeleine King, was to set about to ensure that we had a continued reliable supply of gas.