Opinion Piece | 11 March 2026
Lachlan Hunter MLA
Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food
Right now across regional Western Australia something deeply concerning is unfolding.
Farmers are being told their diesel deliveries have stopped. Some have been warned supply may not resume for weeks. Others cannot lock in deliveries at all. In some cases, operations have already ground to a halt simply because there is no fuel to run the machinery.
This should alarm every Western Australian.
Agriculture runs on diesel. Tractors, harvesters, seeding rigs, irrigation pumps and freight trucks all depend on it. When fuel stops flowing, farms stop working. And when farms stop working, the consequences ripple far beyond the farm gate.
Western Australia delivered a record grain harvest in 2025. But the reality is stark; we cannot do it again in 2026 if farmers cannot access fuel.
I wrote to Premier Roger Cook seeking an explanation about what the Government is doing to ensure Western Australia’s fuel security, particularly for WA farmers. I also raised the issue during Question Time in State Parliament. Unfortunately, the response was the now familiar line that “there is no issue with supply”. That answer will come as a surprise to the farmers who have been told their deliveries have been cancelled or delayed for weeks.
What we are seeing now is the collision between global instability and Australia’s growing vulnerability in energy supply. Conflict in the Middle East is driving volatility in oil markets and creating supply disruptions across Australia.
For a nation that imports most of its refined fuel, those shocks hit quickly. And in regional Western Australia the impacts are felt first and hardest.
Independent fuel distributors, the businesses that supply regional towns and farms, are often the first to be squeezed when supply tightens. When wholesalers ration fuel, regional operators get cut back. When allocations shrink, farmers are the ones left waiting.
This is not a theoretical risk. It is happening now.
Think about what that means during critical seasonal windows. Seeding does not wait.
Harvest does not pause. Agriculture runs on tight timelines dictated by weather and biology, not supply chains in Singapore or geopolitical tensions in the Strait of Hormuz.
When diesel disappears, production stops. When production stops, food prices rise.
Western Australia’s vulnerability to fuel shocks has also been worsened by the loss of local refining capacity. In 2021, BP closed the Kwinana Oil Refinery, one of Australia’s last operating refineries. The closure left Western Australia even more reliant on imported refined fuels and exposed to global supply disruptions. Critically, there was no clear long term plan to strengthen the state’s fuel security once that refinery closed.
This situation should serve as a warning about a broader issue; Western Australia is dangerously exposed to global energy shocks.
That is why governments must focus on what we can control and one of the most important tools available to Western Australia is domestic gas.
For nearly two decades WA has had one of the most sensible energy policies in the country: the 15 per cent domestic gas reservation policy.
Introduced in 2006, the policy requires LNG exporters to reserve around 15 per cent of their gas for the domestic market. The principle was simple – Western Australia’s gas resources belong to the people of Western Australia, and a portion should remain here to support local industry and keep energy affordable.
The policy has worked.
Western Australia remains the only state with a domestic gas reservation policy, which has helped keep local gas prices lower and supply more stable than elsewhere in Australia.
That gas underpins critical industries including mineral processing, manufacturing and fertiliser production.
Natural gas is a key ingredient in nitrogen fertilisers used across agriculture. Without reliable and affordable gas, fertiliser becomes more expensive and harder to secure.
With global uncertainty already driving rising costs and tighter supply chains, this matters more than ever.
Yet the Cook Labor Government still refuses to fully enforce the intent of WA’s domestic gas policy.
Western Australia has the resources to manufacture fertiliser locally – we have the gas, the industrial capability and the agricultural demand. But without affordable domestic gas those opportunities stall.
Instead of producing fertiliser here in WA, supporting jobs and strengthening food security, farmers remain exposed to volatile global markets.
The irony is clear: Western Australia exports enormous quantities of LNG to the world, yet our own farmers face rising fertiliser costs and supply uncertainty.
That is not how the policy was intended to work. Its purpose was simple; to ensure Western Australia’s resources benefit our state first and to protect industries that underpin our economy.
In an increasingly uncertain world, that principle matters more than ever.
Global conflicts will continue to disrupt energy markets. Supply chains will remain fragile and prices will continue to fluctuate.
But Western Australia does not have to simply accept that vulnerability.
Protecting fuel supply chains for regional industries must be a priority. Farmers cannot be an afterthought when supply tightens.
At the same time, the State Government should use the tools already available to it.
Enforcing and strengthening the domestic gas reservation policy would help ensure industries like fertiliser manufacturing can thrive here at home.
That would reduce reliance on global markets and give WA farmers greater certainty about one of their most critical inputs.
In uncertain times the lesson is clear.
Fuel security matters. Fertiliser security matters. Food security matters.
And the decisions made today will determine whether Western Australian agriculture remains strong tomorrow.
ENDS
