One Refinery Burns, the Other Carries a Nation — and Nobody Built a Third

Michael West Media · AAP · Thursday 16 April 2026

One Refinery Burns, the Other Carries a Nation — and Nobody Built a Third

A fire at one of Australia's two remaining oil refineries has renewed concerns about fuel import dependency, after decades of refinery closures reduced domestic capacity to a bare minimum.

Two refineries. We had seven. Now one's on fire and the other's carrying the country like a bloke with a piano on his back. Thirty years of privatisation, closure, and crossed fingers, and the national fuel security plan amounts to 'hope the other one doesn't go up too.' Menzies built Snowy Hydro for sovereignty. We can't keep a fuel depot lit without importing the fuel to put the fire out.

Also covered by