Armed with a Jim Beam bourbon, Paul Funnell has gone viral and international. Photo: Facebook.
Wagga farmer Paul Funnell has made international headlines after a video of him criticising the government over the fuel crisis – while holding a Jim Beam bourbon – went viral on social media.
The Facebook video has now been viewed more than 411,000 times – almost double the views of the two most recent videos posted by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week.
Mr Funnell said it was completely unplanned.
“It was the end of a long day and I’d had a gutful,” he said.
“I tried to order fuel to harvest my maize crop but I couldn’t get any.”
In the video, Mr Funnell explained his 2000-tonne crop was sown in October 2025, but he had been unable to transport it to the mills due to the fuel shortage.
“We shouldn’t be in this position; we were once energy self-sufficient. This is all because we shut down all our oil refineries,” he said.
His video was reported on by the UK Daily Mail, which used the headline: Furious Aussie farmer’s urgent warning as fuel crisis threatens food supplies – and the frightening truth he wants those in the city to read.
“I had no idea I’d gone international,” Mr Funnell said.
“My son-in-law’s brother sent a text about how I was stirring things up. That’s how I found out.”
In the video he argued that, over the past 50 years, governments of both persuasions have gradually sold out regional Australia.
“I think the Coalition is more to blame than Labor. If you look at everything that’s gone wrong, from the e-safety commissioner to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the selling of our poles and wires, the shutting down of our oil refineries – it all happened under the Coalition’s watch.”
Since posting the video, Mr Funnell said he had finally been able to secure fuel to harvest his crop – but at a significant cost.
“But it really cost me. I needed 10,000 litres; the price went from $17,000 to $28,000,” he said.
His social media presence has continued to grow, with another video – condemning the arrest of Ben Roberts-Smith on Thursday – attracting almost 100,000 views.
“Australia should hang it’s head in shame … we send the likes of Ben Roberts-Smith then when they come back we spend hundreds of millions of dollars because we didn’t like something that happened there? As if anyone is going to want to stand up for this country,” he said.
Mr Funnel said his videos were resonating with tens of thousands of Australians.
“I just speak off the cuff, one take, that’s my message,” he said.
“I’m explaining what everyday Australians are going through. People are fed up with the red tape, the direction we are going. I’ve talked about this for 25 years and people are noticing now because it’s biting them on the arse.”
Mr Funnell is a former Wagga councillor and recently joined the newly formed One Nation Riverina branch.
He said we had to break away from the major parties but he couldn’t support Michelle Milthorpe, the independent candidate running for the neighbouring seat of Farrer.
“She’s backed by Climate 200, and there’s no way that group is going to put through any legislation to support regional Australians,” he said.
“I pray that One Nation can win the upcoming by-election; they’re our only hope.”
