ACTIVISTS UNDERMINE FOOD SECURITY
Shadow Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Senator Susan McDonald has taken aim at anti-gas activists as Australia’s food-growing industry is just weeks away from a fertiliser crisis.
Australian farmers are facing a May deadline for supplies that may not arrive amid escalating tensions in the Middle East.
Senator McDonald, said the crisis exposed a dangerous failure by the Albanese Government to secure Australia’s energy and fertiliser future.
“Labor has ignored repeated warnings since December 2022 about fuel and fertiliser security,” Senator McDonald said.
“While other nations have moved to secure supply, Labor has dithered and now farmers are wondering if it’s worth harvesting or if they’ll be able to plant.”
Australia uses up to 3 million tonnes of urea each year, with around 60 per cent sourced from the Middle East. Urea produced from natural gas makes up roughly half of all fertiliser used in Australia and is essential to crop yields.
“There is a direct link between gas and fertiliser. No gas means no urea and no urea means lower crop yields and higher food prices,” Senator McDonald said.
“In 2022, the Coalition backed the Perdaman urea plant in Western Australia to strengthen the nation’s sovereign capability, but projects like this depend on reliable and affordable gas supply, something Labor has put at risk.”
Senator McDonald said activist groups, backed by opaque foreign funding, were working to shut down Australia’s gas industry, undermining energy security and food production.
“As a politician influencing policy, I am required to publicly list my donors, but organisations like the Australia Institute, the Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis, and the Environmental Defenders Office are actively campaigning against the industry that underpins our economy and they refuse to reveal who’s funding them,” she said.
“These secretive foreign anti-fossil fuel groups are putting at risk Australia’s sovereign capability for fuel and fertiliser production and are attacking Australia’s national interest.”
With supply chains taking up to 60 days, the window to secure fertiliser for planting is closing fast. If disruptions continue through April, Australia faces a significant shortfall in May.
“Farmers are already dealing with high diesel costs, if fertiliser becomes scarce or unaffordable, the impact will be felt at every supermarket checkout,” Senator McDonald said.
“This is a failure of foresight and a failure of responsibility.
“Food security is national security, but without fuel and fertiliser, we have neither.”
ENDS