NSW Farmers has called on Energy Minister Chris Bowen to immediately act and resolve the bush fuel shortage.
Across the country, many farmers and the bulk fuel suppliers they rely on are running dry, despite claims from the government that there is no supply problem.
NSW Farmers President Xavier Martin said this was an urgent issue that needed to be addressed today.
“What we need the Australian Government to do today is ease the immediate problem of our domestic fuel supply, getting fuel from the terminal to country bulk suppliers, and then on to the farms and towns that depend on it,” Mr Martin said.
“There may be fuel coming into Australia, but the government needs to wake up and realise that does not automatically mean it’s getting to where it’s needed. Fuel sitting in terminals does not fill tanks in rural and regional areas let alone on farms.
“If the terminals are full of fuel and the farms run dry, then Energy Minister Chris Bowen has failed to do his job.”
Mr Martin said moves by the International Energy Agency to release 400 million barrels of reserve oil were welcome and would certainly ease some concerns about fuel supply around the planet.
But there was a more immediate issue at home.
“Right now, we’ve got farmers across the country who have run out, or are running out of fuel, while others are only a week or two away from empty. Normally they’re refilled by bulk suppliers, many of them smaller independent distributors in rural and regional areas. Those suppliers are telling our members they’re dry as well, with no more fuel coming.