THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP

SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
 FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT

INTERVIEW WITH MARK DORAN, 6PR

Friday 27 March 2026

Topics: Coalition’s calls to halve the fuel excise; conflict in the Middle East; One Nation.

E&OE……………………………………

MARK DORAN: On the line right now is the Member for Canning, Andrew Hastie – our very own – the Shadow Minister for Industry, who is part of Coalition calls for the immediate halving of the fuel excise for three months. Andrew Hastie, good afternoon to you.

ANDREW HASTIE: Good afternoon, Mark. Good to talk to you.

MARK DORAN: You listened intently, I'm sure, to the PM. What was he offering this morning?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, I didn't get a chance to actually hear that – I was at a security conference in Canberra, and I'm in Sydney now. But I do want to reiterate the Coalition's call for a cut to the fuel tax for three months, which will reduce fuel prices by about 26 cents per litre, providing immediate relief at the bowser for families, tradies, truckies and everyone else who depends on our fuel to get around and to do their work.

MARK DORAN: Fuel, particularly at the moment, the fuel price – relief for that, I mentioned the hip pocket – the thing about it is its most of us, isn't it? It is a common sense call you're making, is it not?

ANDREW HASTIE: It is. There are two issues here. There's supply: we know that there is a war in the Middle East, and there is a glut of oil, gas and other really important commodities like fertiliser trapped in the Persian Gulf behind the Strait of Hormuz. And until that war finishes and the strait is reopened, we're going to see 20 per cent less oil, gas, fertiliser and other commodities into the global market. Australia depends upon the importation of about 90 per cent of our liquid fuel, so we're exposed here. It's important that we heard from the Prime Minister today – we've been calling on him and his government for transparency about our fuel supplies all week. But we think that regardless, we need cost of living relief for Australians who have already been hit really hard by homegrown inflation. The Albanese Government has been spending big over the last four years, and inflation is about 3.8 per cent, interest rates are up and a lot of expenses have gone up – from power bills to health premiums to groceries. Now the war in the Middle East is going to hit people even harder, and they know it already – you see it every day at the petrol bowser. So we think there should be cost of living relief, because we don't want to see people have to choose between driving their kids to school or feeding them, or tradies having to say no to jobs because they just can't afford to get to where they need to go. That's why we're interested. That's why we're calling on the government to cut the fuel tax for three months.

MARK DORAN: Why not 100 per cent? Why halve the fuel excise?

ANDREW HASTIE: For three months, it's going to cost $1.5 billion to the federal Budget, and so we think that we should be targeted and temporary, and we need to have other options if this continues for some time. I'm not ruling out an even bigger cut, but importantly for Australians, we're not adding any more inflationary pressure by doing this. We're actually going to cut things in the Budget to pay for this, like the electric car discount, we're going to reverse green hydrogen subsidies and tax credits, and we're going to pause the Home Battery Scheme, which already has integrity issues. So this is responsible. We're asking Australians and families and businesses to manage their own budgets. This cost-of-living relief measure will not spend any more government money than is already being spent.

MARK DORAN: I was going to ask you that: how are you going to pay for it, so you're ahead of the curve there. However, the question that follows your explanation there is solar, batteries, green, hydro and EVs, you're talking about renewable fuels that – depending on who you talk to, again – the answer for the future. You're not throwing them out the baby with the bath water, you're just pausing that?

ANDREW HASTIE: Well, we think the electric car discount has gone on too long. It's the fringe benefit tax exemption for electric vehicles – a lot of high income earners have used that. Sure, it's been taken up by a good number of people, but it's actually a subsidy for Chinese car manufacturers. We import about 75 per cent of EVs from China, and the subsidy – if it keeps going under the Albanese government – will be more than we ever subsidised the Aussie car industry through Holden and Ford, so I don't think we should be subsidising overseas manufacturers. And if we can make a saving here and provide cost of living relief to mums and dads, tradies and truckies across the country at the petrol bowser for three months, then we should do it.

MARK DORAN: Your leader, Angus Taylor said today, Anthony Albanese is asleep at the wheel – that old chestnut. I suppose this one is pun intended. Do you know why it is that the Labor Government hasn't gone to something that – as we said off the top – is pretty easy to do? Maybe harder to fund, because they won't support your initiatives there, but easy to do and would gain so much political support from the punters at the bowser.

ANDREW HASTIE: That's right, and there is a precedent here – we cut the fuel excise for six months under the Morrison Government, when Russia invaded Ukraine. That created an oil and a gas shock into the global economy, and we took a six month approach, halved it – the fuel tax – and that was temporary, targeted and it provided a lot of relief to people. I think this is even worse than the Russian invasion of Ukraine and in fact, people are saying it's going to be worse than the 1973-74 oil shock that really hurt the global economy and put a lot of countries into recession. So the government needs to act fast. Angus Taylor rightly said the Prime Minister has been asleep at the wheel – he's been slow to act here. And we've been using the last couple of weeks of Parliamentary Question Time to really get the government to lift its game. This isn't about scoring political points – a lot of people's livelihoods are at stake here, and we want the best for our country and the Australian people.

MARK DORAN: While I've got you, just a couple of other ones, quickly, if I can. The president of the free world this morning our time called out our nation. Like the Speaker of the House, threatening to name a Member of Parliament when he's too loud inside Parliament, he actually named Australia as a nation that was disappointing in its response to the Americans, and Mr Trump, in particular, his response to the crisis in the Middle East. Your thoughts on that?

ANDREW HASTIE: President Trump isn't a great manager of alliances, friends and partners. We've done a lot of heavy lifting with America since the First World War, in fact. I said President Trump was petulant, last week, and I think the way he's treating allies is petulant. I mean, we knew there was a military build-up in the Middle East, but he didn't consult us on this war. And the other reality is the Albanese Government hasn't invested in the Defence Force so that if we were asked to make a contribution, we could do so. I'm not like Pauline Hanson – I'm not rushing to send Australian men and women into harm's way without the right equipment, as she has suggested several times over the last few weeks, I think we should be putting Australians first, and the economic shock that this is going to put through our families, businesses and industry across the country is going to be significant. We should be focusing on how we best mitigate the impact of that shock.

MARK DORAN: You mentioned Pauline Hanson there – I'm talking to Andrew Hastie, Member for Canning, Shadow Minister for Industry. I was on air in this very studio, Andrew, on Sunday morning, we talked about the South Australian election quite a lot, and there was a lot of support for One Nation. You’ll like this, though – we had one text in particular that said, if I was not in Andrew Hastie's electorate, I would vote for One Nation. So you've got one locked on supporter there for you, which is wonderful! But in a broader sense, One Nation more than the Libs in the SA state election. What's the answer for you – the Liberal Party, both federally and at a state level – do you have to move in response to this popularity of One Nation, which is now no longer just a protest vote?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's great question, Mark. I think people are after bold and courageous leadership – they want a bold and courageous vision for this country, and they want bold and courageous policies. Which is why we're committed to cutting immigration, which is why we're going to raise the standards for immigration, which is why we're going to end the green energy routes through Net Zero, and we're going to focus on getting coal and gas back into the system. We'd like to see nuclear power as well – we'd like to see the private sector drive that, because that could mean we deliver cheap baseload power to the Australian people. And we want young Australians getting into the housing market. A lot of Australians think that the whole system is rigged against them, and you know what? I'm very sympathetic to that, because it does feel rigged if you can't ever buy a house in this country. We're going to work on that, and we're going to listen to people, and that's what being bold and courageous means. As the Shadow Minister for Industry, I want to re-industrialise this country: I want to have oil refineries. I want to have more advanced manufacturing and blue-collar jobs.  I talked about Holden and Ford – I feel like we lost a lot when those when the car industry left our shores, and I want us to be making things of value again so that we can be self-sufficient in a time of crisis.

MARK DORAN: A lot to unpack there this afternoon. Andrew Hastie, thank you for your time.

ANDREW HASTIE: My pleasure, Mark. Thanks for chatting.

[ENDS]