Cook Government to hold roundtable with builders as construction industry begins to feel fuel price hike

The Cook Government will bring together leaders from the construction industry to discuss the impacts of rising fuel prices and worries of shortening supply. Roger Cook announced at a HIA breakfast on Friday his Government would be hosting a roundtable with the construction industry, as fears grow over the impact on the Middle East conflict on capacity to build. While not locking in a date for the meeting, it will follow on from last week’s fuel security roundtable held between Government officials and fuel industry leaders. But construction industry figures say they’re beginning to see costs rise already from suppliers, as businesses grapple with increasing fuel prices. Mr Cook said the meeting would help Government better understand the situation for industry. “Minister Carey and the Deputy Premier Saffioti will be convening the round table construction industry stakeholders soon to talk to you about the impact that higher fuel costs and fuel supply chains and the challenges that they have for your industry,” he said. “We want to know what’s going on on the ground, that’s the reason why we had our fuel security roundtable last week. “We’re now going to meet with each of the industries to ensure that we’ve got real marks site and a deep understanding of this impact and how we can support it.” The move was welcomed by Housing Industry Association WA executive director Michael McGowan, who said while panic was not yet starting, changes were already being noticed. “It’s obviously something that’s emerging and evolving really quickly, we’re starting to see fuel levies come from manufacturers and transport companies on building materials and supplies,” he said. “We’re certainly not alarmed, but we’re keen to sit around the table with the Government and talk through what some of those issues are, and talk through what the short, medium and long term impacts could be.” The announcement comes as the Middle East war continues to escalate, with a number of energy infrastructure sites hit, further increasing worries of fuel shortages. Energy and Decarbonisation Minister Amber-Jade Sanderson provided an update on the progress of getting more fuel out to the regions. She said since National Cabinet WA had seen an increase in fuel supply, with a focus on the regions. “It’s a highly complex supply chain as you can imagine, some parts of it are very well organised through peak bodies and other large parts of it are just individual operators and individual truck owners so that has been a huge body of work,” she said. “We stand readier than any other State to get fuel out to the regions by doing that work. “We saw through our major supplier through the ports, an increase of 174 per cent volume going out. “That means they’ll fill all of their usual contracts, but that 174 per cent increase will go directly to those independent operators in those regions that need that fuel.”