Pauline Hanson has made a fervent appeal for Australia to abandon its net-zero commitments and harness its own oil resources to tackle the ongoing fuel crisis. She criticized Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for highlighting an international agreement that, according to her, barely covers a day’s worth of fuel consumption.

During a last-minute trip to Asia, the Prime Minister’s actions, Hanson argued, laid bare Australia’s increasing vulnerability when it comes to fuel security. The One Nation leader pointed out that the government’s acquisition of 100 million liters of diesel underscores the country’s heavy dependence on overseas suppliers.

This fuel, imported via shipments from Brunei and South Korea, has been cited by Hanson as proof that Australia lacks control over its fuel reserves. It has led her to reiterate her stance on the need for bolstering domestic production and achieving energy independence.

“Australia uses 92 million liters of diesel a day,” she stated in a social media post. “So the Prime Minister called a big press conference to tell Australia he’s secured just over one day’s worth of fuel.”

‘Australia uses 92 million litres of diesel a day,’ she wrote in a social media post.  

‘So the Prime Minister called a big press conference to tell Australia he’s secured just over one day’s worth of fuel.

‘Australia used to be self‑reliant. We didn’t have to buy fuel from other countries because we refined it all here.

‘Net‑zero and climate change policies shut our refineries down and made us reliant on foreign countries.’

Pauline Hanson (pictured) says net-zero policies had left Australia reliant on foreign nations

The One Nation leader said the Prime Minister’s eleventh‑hour Asia trip exposed Australia’s deepening fuel insecurity (Anthony Albanese is pictured)

Hanson argued Australia should not need to be dependent on supplies from other countries due to its resource wealth. 

‘We have enough oil, gas, coal and uranium to last us thousands of years,’ she said.

‘It’s time to end net‑zero so we can use our own resources for cheap energy and fix the cost of living crisis.’

Former prime minister Tony Abbott echoed Hanson’s concerns, warning the ‘deranged’ Albanese government had exposed Australia to fuel disruptions. 

‘The Prime Minister’s “fuel diplomacy coup” in securing two extra deliveries, each of 100million litres, sounded impressive but actually constituted less than two days’ total Australian consumption,’ Abbott wrote on his Substack on Tuesday. 

‘The month’s supply of petrol, diesel, avgas and jet fuel that we supposedly had at the start of the Iran war included only about three weeks’ worth that was actually onshore,’ he said, warning the rest was at risk because much was in transit. 

‘The rest was cargoes at sea that, in extremis, could be sunk, or possibly diverted to other destinations in the event of a major threat to shipping.’

The comments come as the Coalition unveils plans to overhaul the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act (EPBC), Australia’s main federal environmental law governing major projects with significant environmental impact.

The Coalition has proposed an overhaul to environment laws to allow more oil and gas projects (pictured, a service station with no unleaded fuel in Melbourne)

Tony Abbott (pictured) dismissed the government’s fuel announcements as political spin 

Liberal Shadow Environment Minister Andrew Bragg on Monday described Australia’s current system as ‘a complete mess’ that was blocking new energy supply. 

‘It takes up to eight years to get an approval done through the EPBC and in the case of new oil and gas developments, a lot of these haven’t actually come to pass because the industry can’t actually get through Canberra’s rubbish,’ he told the ABC.

Bragg said Australia was needlessly reliant on imports despite our abundant resources, adding the country was ‘closed for business’ on big energy and infrastructure projects.

‘The idea that we cannot get access to the 42 years of oil underneath Australia is insane,’ he said. ‘We’ve just had two major supply chain shocks in six years. 

‘We need to be more resilient.’