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Fuel prices are skyrocketing as surging demand leads to supply challenges nationwide, leaving some stations without petrol or diesel.
Australia relies heavily on oil imports from its Asian neighbors due to its limited domestic production. However, there’s a push from Crisafulli to change this dynamic.
In a recent visit to the Bowen Basin’s Taroom Trough, located approximately 350 kilometers from Brisbane, he highlighted the area’s output of about 200 barrels of oil daily, which is then converted into diesel.
Crisafulli argues that this is insufficient and believes Australia is overlooking a vast reserve of untapped “liquid gold.”
“We are sitting on a sea of opportunity,” he emphasized.
“I couldn’t think of anything more in the national interest right now than being able to make sure that we remove roadblocks to getting oil, to produce our own fuel in this country.”
The federal government has powers under the National Interest Fast-Track Assessment Pathway, which can speed up approval for major infrastructure projects deemed to be of the national interest.
While fossil fuel measures weren’t designed to fall under this measure, Queensland politicians argue the time is right if Australia wants to insulate itself from future oil shocks.
Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen said he was willing to work with the Queensland government but stopped short of fully endorsing quicker expansion of Queensland’s outback oil fields.
”There are things that can be done with the Queensland government and the Commonwealth government working together in a bilateral agreement to fast-track approvals,” he said.
“If there can be oil extracted in Australia to replace imports, great.”
Crisafulli said if expansion was to go through, it was a moment of significance that would be felt far beyond his state’s borders.
“This is a moment of national significance, and it is an opportunity for our country,” he said.
Climate change action advocates have urged Australia to focus on expanding renewable energy capacity instead of producing more fossil fuels.
“We’ve got roughly eight to 10 years’ worth of oil. We’ve got some shale oil, but we don’t know, like, what quality it is, how of it much there is, how easy it is to get. If you added that in, that’d give us another 35 years,” she said.
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