Australia politics live: opposition calls on Labor to activate emergency powers to tackle fuel crisis

Angus Taylor says government must direct fuel to empty petrol stations. Follow today’s news liveGet our breaking news email, free app or daily news podcastBarnaby Joyce calls for food rationing, saying a ‘plan is better than panic’One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce who yesterday called on the government to pull the trigger on the Liquid Fuel Emergency Act, is today calling for the government to start rationing food.This is going to ripple through. It’s going to start with a few sort of peculiarities. Isn’t that interesting? I don’t seem to have any eggs today. And then it’s going to build up and up and up and up. But by the time it arrives, it’s too late …[The government] should be having rationing now, and he should be brave enough to say to the Australian people, look, you’re not going to like this, but you’re going to appreciate it. A plan is better than panic, and panic is where we’re going.There is no one cause or single solution to tackle the illicit tobacco market. We need a multipronged and multi-jurisdictional approach to tackle the issue, including ongoing and enhanced collaboration with the states and territories. Continue reading...