Cameron Milner: Australia’s reliance on the Middle East for fuel leaves it vulnerable to the whims of tyrants

Australians were already rightly concerned about national security, given the rise in Islamic extremism here, especially after the Bondi massacre. Adding to that insecurity is now economic insecurity because of the current fuel crisis. A fuel crisis borne from the fact 60 per cent of our fuel is sourced from oil from the Middle East. This is fundamentally an issue of Australia not having energy sovereignty. We should have at least 90 days of reserve supply but successive governments have let that run down to little more than 30 days. Our nation is at the end of the supply line for fuel of all kinds, petrol, diesel and jet fuel. The Asian refineries we rely upon in turn get their crude oil from the Middle East, the vast majority of which comes through the Strait of Hormuz. The strait as we have become very aware is currently blocked by the Islamic extremists running Iran. We sent a plane, signed an open letter but can’t send even one naval vessel to join an international flotilla seeking to re-open this vital economic artery for our fuel supply. I’m all for renewables and our electrical energy transition has been world class, but our condemnation of all things carbon which prevents new oil and gas exploration has been an epic act of self harm. Our nation is vast. We don’t run trucks delivery groceries on solar batteries. Our planes don’t fly on wind power and our farmers, miners and so many of our First Nations communities run on only diesel. The answer so clearly to our fuel insecurity isn’t more renewable electricity, but instead reliable and affordable fuel to drive our nation. To think that well-meaning public servants suggest we work from home or drive slower completely misses the point. This is a national wake-up call about this absolute vulnerability to our defence and way of life in this country. We have become lazy and complacent when all the warning signs were in plain sight. The Middle Eastern source of our oil isn’t some thriving democratic society. It’s a series of Islamic states that range from tribal autocracies, kingdoms and a terrorist state trying to make a nuclear bomb. A nuclear-ambitious Iran that we now know has a ballistic rocket that could reach Paris from Tehran. A sickening Islamic theocracy run by a death cult that killed up to 80,000 of its own citizens for daring to demonstrate, that hangs gay men from cranes in public squares and for whom the other Gulf states were all too happy to play footsies with. The illusion of the Gulf states’ security has forever been smashed like a shiny Dubai tower hit by an Iranian drone. These countries may have obscene oil-derived wealth yet their desalination plants only provide seven days drinking water in Saudi Arabia. A gas field in Qatar after just one Iranian attack has lost 17 per cent of its capacity for the next five years. There’s an irony that the Qataris put up the Hamas’ leadership in six-star hotels hoping this would somehow make them less of a target for Iran. Dubai Airport, the world’s busiest for international passenger travel before the conflict, has shown its absolute vulnerability. Simply put, we can’t rely ever again on the Middle East for our nation’s energy security. This is especially the case if as looks increasingly likely, the terrorist funding and neighbour-bombing Iranian regime stays in charge. Australia has shown such insipid and conflicted leadership since the start of this war. Anthony Albanese was first out of the blocks to congratulate President Donald Trump, then a laggard in terms of sending any actual support, all topped off by being booed at the Lakemba Mosque by Islamic extremists still walking around freely in Western Sydney. What our nation needs now is a wartime footing to once again have energy security and sovereignty. We have huge gas fields and oil yet to be properly explored, let alone developed. We throw mountains of green tape and project delays on those even in the small areas we allow the industry to operate within. A national government that cared for our nation’s energy future wouldn’t let States continue with energy moratoriums that only pander to inner city Tesla-driving Greens and teals. Nationals leader Matt Canavan to his credit has been leading calls as has former prime minister Tony Abbott for a proper re-think of our nation’s oil and gas future. Many in Labor will seek to diminish these eminently sensible calls by as usual attacking the messenger. But as the fuel shock continues to ripple through the wider community, petrol stations run out, flights are cancelled and bread and milk cost more than ever before, we need to wake up as a nation and start looking after ourselves in an uncertain world. We have the oil and gas and can extract them with highest environmental standards in the world. We can no longer trust a bunch of kingdoms and caliphates to provide our fuel security. The PM is right to warn of a lack of social cohesion in Australia. That comes after synagogues are firebombed for the Iranian Revolutionary Guards and the alleged ISIS motivations of the Bondi terrorists. But it will be even worse again if after this fuel crisis Australians know their lifestyle and energy security is just one Iranian drone attack away from being totally disrupted. The Government had already needed to stand up to and utterly condemn homegrown Islamic extremism, but now that must be joined by a fuel security plan that doesn’t rely on the Islamic states of the Gulf region to ever have the capacity to deliver the economic insecurity we are currently facing as a nation.