Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for his question. I understand that Australians are following events in the Middle East and that they're seeing and feeling the consequences here at home. Our government is looking at every practical measure required to shield our nation and household budgets from the worst of this global uncertainty, ensuring that our farmers, our regional communities and the services all Australians rely on can continue to access the fuel that they need.

We continue to see ships arrive carrying fuel in the quantities and frequencies we expect. The longer the conflict in the Middle East goes on, obviously, the more significant the impact will be on the global economy. On any regular day, 20 per cent of the world's oil moves through the Strait of Hormuz, and if that shipping route remains effectively closed, then that will have ongoing consequences for fuel prices and production supply chains and, of course, an inflationary impact right around the world.

Overnight, the International Energy Agency has said the challenge facing the world oil market is unprecedented in scale, which is why the IEA have agreed to the release of 400 million barrels of oil—the largest ever collective action. Australia is carefully considering our next steps in response to the IEA announcement. Today, the minister has directed more fuel into the Australian market, keeping more of the fuel that we make here in Australia here for Australians to use. The National Coordination Mechanism is bringing industry, the states and territories and partners in our region together to get fuel to where it's needed most.

Australia's fuel security and supply is our focus—not just in the last week but over the last four years: introducing the minimum stockpiling obligation, building up our stockpiles of fuel, diesel and technical grade urea and investing in making more liquid fuels here. We'll continue to deal with these issues calmly, methodically and in an orderly way, prioritising Australia's fuel supply and our fuel security, and acting always in the national interest.

I note that, in response to a question on a previous occasion, 'Do we have to swing by the Army disposals now and get our jerry cans?', one of the members of this place said:

It's incredibly important people don't do this. It is not necessary. It's also not helpful … at the end of the day, there is a lot either in the supply chain, or coming … and we're doing everything to make sure there's no prospect of a future disruption… there's no need for additional buying.

That was said by the Leader of the Opposition in 2021. He was right then and, if he said that today, he'd still be right.

See this speech in context