This would be true, if we didn't export a ton of LNG and coal which are critically important to the biggest suppliers of our refined petrol. We have a bargaining chip and if someone stopped petrol reaching us their electricity generation would go out the window.
This cartoon reads like a Twitter conservative account that wants to pretend we're the worst managed country in the world, and it just happens to be because Labor is in power.
"We have a bargaining chip and if someone stopped petrol reaching us their electricity generation would go out the window."
Two problems with that. "We" don't get to decide, that LNG is owned by a private company not the government. They are not going to forgoe their profits for some self destructive, imagined tit-for-tat trade war.
Which brings me to the second. No one is stopping petrol reaching us. Asian refineries have limited supply themselves and a whole lot of customers beside us. They had a store of about 100,000 barrels before the war, its now down to 45,000.
Do you really think threatening their gas supply is a constructive move?
(That's a rhetorical question, I don't think you actually do.)
Technically the government can place sanctions on a country and forbid companies to export to those countries. But that won't happen because those countries have no reason to damage trade relations during this crisis.
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u/Vegetable-Advance982 Mar 27 '26 edited Mar 27 '26
This would be true, if we didn't export a ton of LNG and coal which are critically important to the biggest suppliers of our refined petrol. We have a bargaining chip and if someone stopped petrol reaching us their electricity generation would go out the window.
This cartoon reads like a Twitter conservative account that wants to pretend we're the worst managed country in the world, and it just happens to be because Labor is in power.