BUILDING Australian-owned and operated AdBlue manufacturing plants is the only reasonable response to concerns of the product’s shortfall and legislated requirement of its use in Aussie trucks, Kennedy MP Bob Katter says.   

The federal government on Thursday announced it was “moving to build” a stockpile of diesel exhaust fluid (DEF), which includes AdBlue, as part of a $49.5m investment. It proposed the investment would build a government-controlled stockpile of 7500 tonnes of technical grade urea – a component of DEF, as well as initiate a “competitive grants program” to support manufacturing projects that would produce the urea domestically.   

Mr Katter, a long-term advocate of a sovereign fuel security bill labelled the announcement as “rhetoric” and “far from reality”.   

“I’ll praise them when I see the reality,” Mr Katter said.         

Mr Katter, who earlier this year called for a temporary suspension to AdBlue requirements to address shortfall concerns, said if the government wanted to legislate its use, then it ought to be responsible for its production.   

Mr Katter is calling on Federal Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen and the Albanese Government to do more than stockpile and incentivise an “essential” product.   

“If you’re going to force us to use the product, then it is only fitting that you should also ensure that the product is made in Australia and Australian-owned,” Mr Katter said.   

“It should never have been legislated to force Australians to add this stuff into their diesel, but we can’t go backwards, because every vehicle has to be rejigged at a huge cost in time and money.  

“So that being the case, there must be one or two facilities in Australia, government-owned, providing a full and adequate supply of AdBlue.   

“It will take superannuation monies – 100th of one per cent of superannuation investment money – to build the facility which will be owned by Australia. At the present moment, superannuation money is going overwhelmingly into the share market.”   

Mr Katter said Mount Isa was an example of an ideal location for an AdBlue facility, if not for “astronomical” electricity costs.   

“We’ve already got a major fertiliser plant at Mount Isa, if you give us a cheap ideal source of electricity, the ideal place to put it would be where you’ve got the gas, where you’ve got the phosphate.  

“So if Minister Bowen fails to do this, then we have a continuation of the national economic betrayal that has taken place. But if we end up with an Australian-owned facility, capable of producing all of our AdBlue requirements, then I will be the first to applaud the minister and his government.”   

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