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‘Unprecedented’ fire at oil refinery in Geelong
Fire crews continue to battle an out-of-control blaze at a Geelong refinery that broke out late last night.
Residents in areas south of the Viva oil refinery in Corio – one of Australia’s two remaining refineries – have been warned to stay inside to avoid smoke.
Geelong’s mayor, Stretch Kontelj, told ABC Melbourne radio this morning that the fire was “unprecedented”.
“Speaking to the management, no one can recall an incident of this magnitude either,” he said shortly before 6am on Thursday. “But from reports, it is coming under control.”
The refinery said no one had been reported injured so far, and that there was no immediate impact on fuel supplies.
Key events
Energy minister says Geelong refinery fire ‘not great timing’, but facility still producing some fuel
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, is speaking about the refinery blaze. He said the refinery is still producing diesel and jet fuel, at reduced capacities. Bowen told ABC News this morning:
Obviously, the fire is still burning so we can’t make any final conclusions about the impact. It’s not a positive development. It will have an impact. I’m sure that petrol production will continue but it may be impacted for some time.
He said the fire was “not great timing”, adding it remained important that people only buy the fuel they need, “no more, no less”, in light of the incident.
Bowen added that it appeared to be an accident at this point.
Look, this is not a positive development in Geelong. Let’s not pretend somehow that this won’t have some sort of impact.
But as I said, we will carefully, methodically, manage it with the refinery and I and Viva will update Australians with the very best and latest information as and when we determine the full impact.
Geelong refinery supplies 50% of Victoria’s fuel, and 10% of Australia’s in total
Viva Energy’s refinery in Geelong supplies about 50% of Victoria’s fuel, and 10% of Australia’s in total, according to the company’s website.
The refinery is just one of two remaining in Australia, and employs more than 1,100 people. The other is Ampol’s Lytton refinery in Brisbane. Both rely on government support to stay open.
Viva Energy says on it’s website:
The refinery can process up to 120,000 barrels of oil per day, manufacturing petrol, diesel, LPG, jet fuel, avgas and Low Aromatic Fuel to support the Federal Government’s petrol-sniffing prevention program.
These include being Australia’s only manufacturer of hydrocarbon solvents, marine fuel oil, low aromatic fuel, avgas, bitumen and high-quality plastic feedstock used to create food packaging, medical equipment and polymer banknotes.
Good morning, Nick Visser here to take things over. Let’s get to it.
Matt Canavan defends Coalition’s migration policy
Ima Caldwell
The Nationals leader, Matt Canavan, defended the Coalition’s planned crack down on immigrations as “fair and reasonable” and that migrants would understand the policy.
Asked on 7.30 last night how Australia’s migrant communities would see the plan, Canavan referred to the “rigour” of the naturalisation process his Italian grandparents went through in the 1950s and his own publicised section 44 high court citizenship saga (which he said ultimately proved him to be a “dinky-di Aussie”). He said:
It’s fair and reasonable that we set high standards to join the club of Australians and I’m sure migrants here today want to see that …
We have a Government that has put its head in the sand now and has not listened to the Australian people that clearly want change.
Canavan claimed support for Australia’s migration program is “falling off a cliff.”
When the show’s host, Sarah Ferguson, asked again about the specific wording of a policy described as “discriminatory”, Canavan said:
I think we should discriminate on values …
We shouldn’t discriminate on colour, religion, sexuality, gender, but surely … we should discriminate on people who don’t support democracy, who profess support for terrorism or violence, who don’t believe in equality between male and female genders. People who have those views I don’t want them in our country.
Canavan reached for a literary quote: “Having good fences make for good neighbours”.
Ferguson noted:
I’ll comment that the Robert Frost line in that poem was delivered in irony.
But we’ll return to that another day along with many other questions, thank you for joining us …
‘Unprecedented’ fire at oil refinery in Geelong
Fire crews continue to battle an out-of-control blaze at a Geelong refinery that broke out late last night.
Residents in areas south of the Viva oil refinery in Corio – one of Australia’s two remaining refineries – have been warned to stay inside to avoid smoke.
Geelong’s mayor, Stretch Kontelj, told ABC Melbourne radio this morning that the fire was “unprecedented”.
“Speaking to the management, no one can recall an incident of this magnitude either,” he said shortly before 6am on Thursday. “But from reports, it is coming under control.”
The refinery said no one had been reported injured so far, and that there was no immediate impact on fuel supplies.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the best of the overnight stories and then Nick will take over.
Matt Canavan has defended the Coalition’s planned immigration shake-up as “reasonable and fair” and said it would be accepted as such by migrants already in Australia. More coming up.
Residents in parts of Geelong have been warned to take shelter due to smoke from an out-of-control fire at the Viva oil refinery in Corio – we’ll be bringing you more details soon.
