Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. When was the government advised that six shipments of vital fuel supply bound for Australia were cancelled, and as of today how many ships have been cancelled?

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

We are in constant engagement with all of the importers and all of the receivers of these supplies. It is on a daily basis. The minister notified publicly, said publicly yesterday on the Insiders program, exactly what the circumstances were. When it comes to fuel security, obviously there are global challenges. We are visited today by the head of the International Energy Agency—I look forward to meeting with him after question time today—and we're having a series of meetings as well with our international partners, making sure that we can secure supply. I can inform the House that at one o'clock I had a very good discussion with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong of Singapore, and we are issuing now a joint statement on energy security.

People would be conscious, after the closure of four of Australia's six—

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The manager on a point of order?

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It goes to direct relevance. You can't get a more specific question. When were you advised that the six shipments were cancelled, and have anymore been cancelled since then? You cannot get more direct.

Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Prime Minister did answer that part of the question when he indicated the timeline when he referred to the minister's statements yesterday. I'm listening carefully regarding that part of the question, but the Prime Minister is now giving information to the House on fuel security and fuel arrangements. I assume that will also deal with the second part of the question that was about fuel supply and any cancellations. So the Prime Minister is being directly relevant. He did address the first part of the question that the manager raised in maybe the first 20 seconds of his answer.

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

I find it extraordinary that they would interrupt an answer talking directly about what has happened in the last hour to secure Australia's energy security. The statement that we have said is:

We are committed to working together to strengthen energy supply chain resilience, including by deepening regional cooperation, accelerating renewable energy transition, addressing unjustified import and export restrictions, and maintaining open trade flows.

We are talking with our partners in Korea, in Japan, in China, in Singapore. We are engaged. We are reliable partners when it comes to energy security, and we expect that to be a two-way flow.

I table the joint statement on energy security by me and Minister Wong.