A financial heart attack waiting to happen

Ross Illingworth

Kingfisher Capital Partners

Melbourne, Vic 

Australian Financial Review
OPINION
21 October 2025

With only 28 days’ petrol supply (‘‘‘Country could shut down’: Australia has just 28 days of petrol’’, October 16), our economy is one disruption away from a financial heart attack. The mining sector uses circa 6 billion to 10 billion litres of diesel a year – more than 90 per cent imported from Asia. Our 463,000 kilometres of paved roads, carrying 260 billion kilometres of road traffic, and on heavy rail we travel 15 billion kilometres – add mining and other sectors, we consume a total 62 billion litres of fuel per annum. Everything depends on fuel availability to function. 

Are we running a trillion-dollar debt financed commodity hedge fund precariously balanced on fragile fuel supply chains? After all, a fuel shock is an inevitability – the unknown is its severity and duration! 

A prudent nation would act now to cauterise the risk – ‘‘requesting’’ miners apply the generous diesel tax credits to create a sovereign strategic fuel reserve with private infrastructure investment. A three-month fuel supply housed in onshore storage across multiple secure sites would provide disaster insurance, bridging most eventualities. The reserve could smooth fuel price spikes in extreme conditions. 

Fuel storage is our first line of defence – because in a crisis, our military, economy, and way of life all run on it. Further steps are to revitalise onshore refining, industrial lubrication production and reinstating a national shipping fleet.