RECKLESS. CRIMINAL. NEGLIGENCE.

Reckless criminal negligence. That is the only way to describe Australia's decade-long failure to comply with its obligations under the International Energy Agency treaty, the solemn commitment to hold oil reserves equal to at least 90 days of the previous year's net imports.

This was never some bureaucratic box-ticking exercise. This treaty exists for one reason: survival.

It is a pact between nations, a coordinated shield against global oil shocks, designed to keep economies functioning, food moving, and societies stable when crisis strikes.

Every member was meant to pull its weight to enable a global collective response to an oil supply crisis. And yet, in that alliance of nations, one country stands alone in disgrace.

Australia: The only member that has failed. The only nation that has not met its obligations. The only country that has gambled with its own survival.

We began this year with barely 35 days of fuel in reserve, less than half the minimum requirement. Thirty-five days. That is not a buffer. That is a countdown. It's the equivalent of going to sea in a small boat in stormy weather and not worrying about taking a life jacket. 

For years, we have shamelessly free-ridden on the discipline and responsibility of others, nations that did the hard work, paid the cost, and upheld their commitments.

And what has it made us? A laughingstock. An international embarrassment. A nation that expects rescue while refusing responsibility. Why would any country come to the aid of a freeloader that would not even help itself?

But this goes far beyond international reputation. This is national security, in its most raw and unforgiving form. We are an island; vast, isolated, and utterly dependent on secure supply lines. Ninety days of fuel is not a luxury. It is a lifeline. Japan understands this. That is why it holds more than 200 days of reserves.

We, by contrast, have chosen complacency. For without diesel, everything stops. Not slows down. Not struggles. Stops. No diesel means no tractors in the fields. No harvest.
No fishing fleets at sea. No trucks on the highways. No food moving from paddock to plate.

The shelves empty. The system breaks. Remember the panic. The chaos of supermarket aisles being stripped bare of toilet paper during COVID.  Now imagine that, not for toilet paper, but for food. For survival.

For the first time since the desperate early days of the First Fleet, when, in 1788, Sirius was sent on a perilous, life-or-death voyage, sailing from Sydney via the perilous Straits of Magellan and on to South Africa to buy food, returning to Sydney in May 1789 with 56 tonnes of wheat barley and flour to prevent the colony for starvation, that we could again face the unthinkable: A nation unable to feed its own people.

Without fuel security, we are not a sovereign nation. We are a hostage to circumstance. All the advanced weapons in the world would not save us. An adversary would not need to invade. They would not need to even fire a single shot. All they would need to do is choke the shipping lanes. Mine a port. Shadow our trade routes.

And within weeks, not months, weeks, the choice becomes stark: Starvation... or unconditional surrender. That is how fragile we have allowed ourselves to become.

So how did a nation this wealthy, this capable, this strategically exposed... allow itself to drift into such a position? It fell for the Net Zero scam and climate alarmist nonsense. Pandering to dangerously clueless Teals was prioritised over national security.  

But most of all it was leadership failure. Clear. Sustained. Unforgivable. And at the centre of it: Anthony Albanese.

When Australia first fell into breach of its obligations in 2009, Albanese was the Minister for Infrastructure and Transport, the very portfolio responsible. For six years, the warnings were there. The obligation was clear. The risk was obvious. And yet Albanese, for six years as the Minister responsible, did nothing. No urgency. No action. No correction.

The problem did not just emerge on his watch. It was allowed to take root. To deepen. To become systemic. And now, after years as Prime Minister, the breach still stands. Australia remains the only IEA nation in chronic failure.

And yet Albanese lectures about "resilience." We are told about "energy security." We hear the language of protection, from the very leadership that presided over the collapse of it. It would be laughable if it were not so dangerous. But this failure is not owned by one side alone. The Coalition, when in government, acted, but not with the urgency required. Warnings were raised. Opportunities existed.

I raised the breach of our IEA obligations in Parliament back in 2011. The threat was clear. But no one showed any interest. It was only when the late Jim Molan entered the Senate, that he was able to lead a group of backbenchers to pressure the Liberal leadership into finally taking some action. 

In 2017, the government introduced the Liquid Fuel Emergency Amendment Bill 2017, allowing Australia to try and meet its IEA obligations by purchasing "tickets," effectively storing fuel in the United States on our behalf. But while billions were spent on subsidising "renewables," only $24 million was allocated to this effort. It was far too little, far too late.

The Coalition also moved to save Australia's last two oil refineries through the Fuel Security Services Payment, but again, too little and too late.  

And so the problem remained. And worsened. And now we arrive here, exposed, unprepared, and dangerously dependent. And now we are left in this mess with one of the most ineffective ministers in modern history, Chris Bowen, in charge, a man with the 'reverse-Midas touch' whose record in multiple portfolios has been marked by failure after failure. His mere involvement has resulted in panic buying. 

And what is Albanese's response? Another political stunt. Appointing a bureaucrat from the Climate Change Industrial complex, Anthea Harris, with the grandiose title of Australia's National Fuel Coordinator, and she's been virtually unheard from since. The role should have gone to a seasoned logistics and supply chain expert with decades of experience in the private sector, in the real world, where success is measured in practical achievement, not a political appointment.

At a moment demanding urgency, we see bureaucracy. At a moment demanding strength, we see political spin and gaslighting.

We may yet stumble through. But hope is not a strategy. And survival is not something a nation should leave to chance. If we come through this, it must mark a turning point. A hard reset.

Because nothing matters more than ensuring this nation can feed itself, fuel itself, and stand on its own two feet in a crisis.

Every dollar currently being poured into subsidies to meet pointless virtual-signalling Paris targets should be redirected to ensuring Australia not just meets its IEA obligations, but exceeds them. That means rebuilding strategic reserves. That means treating fuel security not as an afterthought, but as the foundation of national survival. Because without it, everything else, every policy, every promise, every ambition, is meaningless.

It's way past time to end all exploration bans and to Drill, baby Drill. 

“Proper preparation prevents poor performance.”
― James Baker