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Australia's Labor Party leader Bill Shorten had committed to a government-owned national fuel reserve. Currently in opposition, Shorten is bringing the topic into political debate ahead of a federal election this year.<\/p>\n
Shorten said a consultation process would be established with industry, oil and gas importers, refineries and with national security experts prior to establishing the reserve.<\/p>\n
Current Energy Minister Angus Taylor said the policy could cost tens of billions of dollars and Labor would need to explain how it would be funded.<\/p>\n
However, the Maritime Union of Australia (MUA) has applauded the idea of a reserve describing it as an essential step to protect Australia from natural disasters or global crisis that could disrupt oil supplies.<\/p>\n
Australia has been in breach of the the International Energy Agency’s 90-day fuel stockholding obligation since March 2012. Australia has approximately 22 days of petrol, 17 days of diesel and 107 days' worth of aviation gas on hand.<\/p>\n
MUA National Secretary Paddy Crumlin said the fuel reserve commitment, along with Labor’s previous announcement of a National Strategic Fleet that will include oil tankers and gas carriers, were vital steps required to safeguard the security of an island nation that is reliant on fuel imports.<\/p>\n
“Australia is the only developed oil-importing country without government-controlled stocks of crude oil or refined petroleum products, which has become more and more of an issue as the proportion of our fuel that is imported has risen to well over 90 percent,” said Crumlin.<\/p>\n