As global oil issues worsen due to the war in Iran, several AI-enhanced platforms claiming to be independently monitoring Australia’s fuel supply have appeared online.
The federal government has been resisting calls from the opposition to establish an official real-time national fuel supply dashboard.
ABC NEWS Verify can reveal that the creators of one of these platforms, called Last Drop, have close ties to the federal Liberal Party. The platform was built by the party’s former head of digital.
News Corporation has been giving the Last Drop platform extensive publicity, with one Sky News presenter referencing it in a segment where they stated the government had “gaslit” the public about the fuel reserves.
In a social media video, the Herald Sun described Last Drop as something “we have launched”.
The creators have denied that it was made for any clients, commercial or political.
Other fuel supply monitoring platforms investigated by ABC NEWS Verify use questionable methodology and make problematic assumptions based on their data, according to an energy market expert we spoke to.
The government publishes limited data on the minimum stockholding obligation for liquid fuels, updated weekly.
These sites appear to be filling that void for some members of the public who are sharing them online eagerly, with some claiming the government is understating fuel and gas supply issues.
“We no longer need to rely on Albo’s press conferences and evasive messaging to know what’s really going on,” said one user on Facebook.
“The ‘running out in days’ framing is obviously alarmist, but dismissing the risk entirely is questionable,” said a user on Reddit.
A spokesperson for Minister for Climate Change and Energy Chris Bowen said these websites were not accurate or reliable sources of information.
“The correct information is released by the minister each Saturday and available on his department’s website. Misleading and alarmist information should be avoided and is irresponsible,” they said.
Lurion De Mello, from Macquarie University’s Transforming Energy Markets Research Centre, is concerned the dashboards pose “a new kind of information risk”.
“These sites are not government sources, yet they are increasingly being treated as such on social media, in community groups and even in reporting,” he said.
“The danger isn’t the data itself, it’s the confusion they create, fuelling panic buying, mistrust in institutions, and distorted public debate at a time when clarity matters most.”
ABC NEWS Verify has examined several of these platforms in detail.
Last Drop:
What it promises: The site says it uses official government figures to create its prominent countdown timers that estimate how many days of diesel, petrol and jet fuel Australia purportedly has left.
A prominent countdown calculating this down to the second for jet fuel was presented when ABC NEWS Verify visited the site on Wednesday.
Worth noting: Last Drop was created by two strategic communications agencies with ties to the Liberal Party of Australia: Freshwater Strategy and Launchpad Digital.
In a LinkedIn social media post made earlier this month showed a director of Launchpad Digital credited “Josh B”, another director of the company, worked closely with Freshwater Strategy to bring the site to life.
That director, whose name is Josh Baker, was employed by the Liberal Party of Australia as its head of digital until mid-2023, according to his LinkedIn profile.
On April 11, one of the co-founders of Freshwater Strategy, Michael Turner, described the website as a “tool shared exclusively for Nationwide News Pty Limited”, or the news company more commonly known as News Corporation.
News Corp’s Daily Telegraph, Herald Sun, NT News and Hobart Mercury mastheads all featured prominent write-ups on Last Drop.
News Corp Australia did not respond directly to questions about whether it was involved in the creation, commissioning or funding of Last Drop, but in a statement a spokesperson said it was a “practical tool charting Australia’s fuel supplies that we are happy to share with our audience”.
The site does explain its methodology, discloses who runs it, and provides data sources, however, Dr De Mello says he has concerns.
“While the site includes disclaimers, it presents speculative fuel run-out countdowns and depletion dates using authoritative visuals that closely resemble official warnings, something governments in Australia do not do. The public interest risk is not fake data, but misattribution; during a crisis, modelled estimates can be mistaken for official advice, potentially driving panic buying and undermining trust,’ he said.
In a statement to ABC NEWS Verify, Freshwater Strategy said Last Drop was an independent non-partisan exercise, resourced by Launchpad and Freshwater Strategy and that they were “exploring what other information we can provide the public in the coming weeks”.
Fuel Security Australia:
What it promises: “Live” dashboards on purported fuel levels in Australia, including alleged total supplies, inbound supply, retail fuel prices, AI-generated briefs and customisable scenario modelling.
Worth noting: Some of the sources it uses are questionable or politicised and include blog posts, at least one reference to Russian propaganda website Pravda Australia, and One Nation’s website.
There is also a caveat anchored at the bottom of every page that the website is a “scenario modelling tool, not a prediction”.
The site provides data sources and explains its methodology. It says the data is “live” while also stating that it is a projection calculated from a snapshot.
Dr De Mello noted several issues with the data, including how the site measured fuel stocks and how it interpreted different types of ships, which he said could distort coverage.
He said the website’s countdown was a modelled estimate and not a live measure of national stocks.
“Australia’s fuel system is vulnerable but managed. Simplified counters are useful for awareness, but they should never be read literally.”
Fuel Security Australia’s creator said it was built and launched in under 24 hours and that he was a digital projects developer and AI practitioner and did not claim expertise in economics or fuel supply.
He encouraged users to cross-check figures against official sources and said that he welcomed scrutiny and that the site was a “starting point rather than a finished product”.
Fuel Crisis Australia & Oil Reserve Tracker:
What it promises: A variety of dashboards purporting to show different indicators related to the fuel crisis. This includes alleged national fuel reserve levels, capital city petrol prices and betting market predictions.
Worth noting: While the site does not appear to be selling anything directly, it seems to be advertising and earning money through Amazon affiliate links, including a page listing the “Top 20 Power Outage Essentials to Buy on Amazon Australia Right Now”. It also states about its own data accuracy that “the data could be completely wrong and is at best an estimate”.
Dr De Mello said much of the underlying data appeared to be from legitimate government sources but warned that the site was an interpretation rather than an official assessment.
“The site adds its own analytical layers. These include estimated days remaining calculations, projected fuel run-out dates, alert banners and visual countdowns,” he said.
“These outputs are not produced or endorsed by any government agency. The site also embeds prediction market data related to oil prices and geopolitical outcomes and relies partly on manual price inputs in jurisdictions without live feeds.”
Its creator did not directly answer a question about whether they had any background in economics or fuel supply analysis, but told ABC NEWS Verify that “the site … does not provide analysis or commentary”.
They also said it was a hobby site and that the financial goal of any Amazon affiliate links was to offset operating costs.
Fuel Intelligence AU:
What it promises: Intelligence on events leading to fuel price rises by producing so-called “intelligence” reports. The website says it is examining things like the movement of fuel supply and the timing of arrivals.
Worth noting: The site has hallmarks of AI writing and contains mostly unsourced information. Its own disclaimer states: “We do not guarantee completeness, accuracy, future performance, or specific outcomes.”
Dr De Mello said the primary risk with this site was misinterpretation.
“The site’s use of authoritative language, scoring systems, and advisory alerts may lead audiences to assume it reflects official intelligence or government assessment. However, the analysis represents the site operator’s interpretation of publicly observable risks.
“Without methodological transparency or external validation, its assessments should not be cited as factual statements about current fuel availability or government planning.”
Its creator did not respond to questions from ABC NEWS Verify.
Fuel Reserve Monitor:
What it promises: “Live” dashboards related to the fuel crisis and created by AI, with slick countdowns and graphs.
Worth noting: As well as using unclear methodology, this website had several red flags when examined by ABC NEWS Verify.
It cited the website RichLittleRagDolls.co.nz as one of several news sources.
It also appeared to use imagined or AI summaries of Donald Trump quotes under a subhead titled “Trump comments and Brent reaction”, and the “live fuel prices” section said it has not been updated since March 31.
Its creator told ABC NEWS Verify their “motivation was to show what modern AI tools can do with live public data in a practical, visual format”, and that while they did have a background in economics, “people should not rely on the website for making commercial, financial, or personal decisions”.
