Published: 30 Apr 2021
This submission responded to the Productivity Commission’s Draft report of 26 March 2021.
We submitted that there was a major flaw in the draft report relating to the absence of an analysis of the role of ships that are the critical pieces of infrastructure in all supply chains involving the transportation of imports and exports to and from Australia. We submitted that ships are the overwhelming or critical vulnerability point that underpins all other supply chain vulnerabilities. We provided a case study of the shipping aspects of the supply of oil and refined petroleum products to Australia, particularly crude oil and feedstock for refining; automotive gasoline; and diesel oil, to illustrate why ships must be regarded as the overwhelming or critical vulnerability point in Australia’s supply chains. We argued that these vulnerable products are a major input to production in just about all essential industries and they cannot be substituted except over long time scales, nor can production processes be adapted through use of alternatives to liquid carbon fuels, at least not in the short to medium term.
Read the full submission here MUA Submission to the Productivity Commission Inquiry on Vulnerable Supply Chains of 30 April 2021
