: I would like to recognise the efforts of Australians over the Easter long weekend to conserve fuel and to get on with life. We saw very few cancellations. That was a good thing. I said last Wednesday night, and then Thursday at the National Press Club, that I wanted people to have a good Easter. And I hope people did, including people here. And for people of faith, I hope that they had a holy Easter as well. It's an important time for Christians on the calendar.
We have seen prices reduce across most capital cities as our excise cut flows through to bowsers. Not just ours, but in addition to that, of course, the additional cut as a result of the decision by states and territories on Thursday morning that we foreshadowed last week would occur. That is a good thing. Fewer stations have shortages today than before Easter, and I'd like to thank every Australian that has played a part in this outcome. However, of course some shortages do remain, particularly with diesel, and we continue to monitor this very closely.
My Government will continue to take every action we can to shield Australians from the impact of this war. This includes continuing to shore up our fuel supply. This week, on Thursday, I will head to Singapore for the Annual Leaders' Meeting with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong. That will take place on Friday. This will be important, and we'll continue discussions on securing our trade in petrol, diesel and LNG. The visit will continue my Government's regional engagement that I've been involved with. Minister Bowen, Minister Wong and others have been engaged with as well, right across the region, including of course, the Trade Minister, Minister Farrell.
Singapore is an important relationship with Australia. And what this does is show that the work that we've done over the last four years in building relations with ASEAN and other partners - including with Japan and South Korea, our traditional trading partners in North Asia - pays dividends at difficult times because we've been able to have those conversations and work together, which is what we will do. Singapore is Australia's largest two-way trade partner and investor in Southeast Asia, and one of our closest strategic and economic partners. The visit follows Australia and Singapore's joint commitment to keep fuel flowing between both countries and to work together to strengthen energy supply chain resilience.
Together, we share concern over the situation in the Middle East, including the consequences for both of our nations. We share a deep strategic trust. I regard Prime Minister Wong as a friend of Australia, and the fact that we have reconstituted these Annual Leaders' Meetings is very important. My Government has spent four years building our relationship with the region. It is moments like these that these relationships really matter. Australia is facing a more uncertain world, and therefore the certainty of those clear, close relationships is more important than ever. We don't need to wait for this global crisis to be over. We have to build resilience into the system. We are currently in a secure position. However, engaging with our international partners is an important part of keeping our fuel supply flowing.
CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE & ENERGY: Thanks very much, PM. Well, a lot of Australians worked very hard over the Easter break to make sure that our fuel was flowing to the regions and to service stations. And despite the fact that demand for petrol and diesel was 30 per cent higher this Easter than last Easter, we continue to see each day the service station outages fall. During the weekend, I held daily press conferences to update on the service station numbers and happy to do so again this morning.
In NSW, we have 125 service stations without diesel. That's 5 per cent of service stations, that's down 17 on yesterday. 34 with no fuel, that's down five on yesterday. Victoria, we have 40 without diesel, that's down 11. So, that's 2 per cent of Victorian service stations, 29 with no unleaded petrol. In Queensland, 34 without diesel, that's also 2 per cent, and 30 without unleaded petrol. South Australia, seven with no diesel, five with no unleaded petrol. Western Australia, 20 without diesel, 32 without unleaded petrol. Tasmania, seven without diesel, six with no unleaded petrol. Northern Territory, four each, no diesel, no unleaded. And ACT, four with no diesel and one without unleaded petrol. That's a total of 241 service stations without diesel across Australia today. That's 3 per cent of our service stations.
Also on Saturday, as I do each Saturday, I updated the Australian people on how much fuel we have on hand. But just to remind, we're seeing those levels stay pretty static, which tells me that the fuel is going out the door at a very high rate to the regions in particular, as it needs to, but also coming in the door. So, we have 39 days' worth of petrol, that's 1.7 billion litres. 30 days' worth of jet fuel, that's 847 million litres. And 29 days' worth of diesel, that's 2.6 billion litres.
Again, in my discussions with the fuel companies over the weekend, over Easter, again, lots of people across the industry were working very hard. They now have locked in confidence well into May - had been into April, but now well into May - in terms of fuel that they've been able to procure and lock in and have contractual obligations to deliver to Australia. And it's a good thing. Also, a shout out to Export Finance Australia, which again has been working over the weekend. A lot of people didn't take much time off over the weekend to make sure that that legislation - which we passed last week - is being fully implemented and deals are being done. And I'll provide further updates as some of those deals are finalised in coming days.
But again, a big shout out, as the PM said, to everyone who patriotically over the weekend worked hard to get fuel to where it's needed. And to those Australians who went about their business as we encouraged, did what they normally would do, but didn't take more fuel than they need, get the same amount of fuel as you normally get, no more, no less - that is the right thing to do at the moment. And so many Australians across the board did that. So, a big thank you to everyone who did that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, Ben Roberts-Smith has just been arrested into alleged war crimes. Did the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecution seek authorisation from the Federal Government for this?
PRIME MINISTER: I have no intention of commenting on a matter that's clearly before the courts.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the NDIS, you've got a Budget coming up in a couple of weeks' time. Some of your own MPs are saying that this is the time for major reform to the NDIS, including things like who is in and who is out. In the lead up to the Budget, are you ready to level with people in the disability community about some of the tough decisions that are going to need to be taken to get the spiralling cost of the scheme under control?
PRIME MINISTER: The NDIS is a very important program. It's one that's made an enormous difference to people's lives and we need to remember that. We want to make sure that it's fit for purpose and that it's sustainable and we'll be working on the Budget like we do on other items for that.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on Ben Roberts-Smith - generally speaking, what reflections can you bring to bear on the shadow that this now puts over Australia's overall grand service in a very difficult theatre of war?
PRIME MINISTER: I have no intention of prejudicing a matter that clearly is a legal matter and that's before the courts, and any comment would do so.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you've been, you're working on a Budget. You've outlined your agenda on that for many months. We all know what you were planning, we all know that a lot has changed. Could you- without, you obviously can't go into detail, but could you just, got something to say to the Australian people about whether you're having to swallow some of your ambition or scale back or amend your priorities in a way that will affect them personally?
PRIME MINISTER: There will obviously be a context of this Budget which is what is going on in the world. The conflict in the Middle East has impacted every single economy in the world and is having an impact on Australians. This isn't something that we called for. It's something though, even though it's a war on the other side of the world, is having an impact here. So, it will be one of the factors in the lead up to the Budget. I think in a range of areas that we're considering at the moment, though, our ambition isn't diminished. This is a Budget that runs in the context after one year after our re-election, where we have, as I said at the National Press Club last Thursday, we've ticked off one by one the commitments that we took to the Australian people. We want to set Australia up to be more resilient, and the Middle East conflict has reminded us of that, of the need to make more things here, of the need to not be at the end of supply chains and to be less vulnerable to global events. At the same time that resilience has another factor, which is we want people to have a share of the economy, to feel like an economy that works for them. And those two factors I think of resilience is a common theme, will be reflected in the deliberations that take place. They're taking place today, like most days, examining the Budget. I think also because of the impact of the Middle East conflict, it is likely that the Budget will be settled later than it normally would, just because we're living in a very turbulent time and we want to make sure that the Budget handed down on the second Tuesday in May is fit for purpose.
JOURNALIST: Is the purpose, Prime Minister, of the Singapore trip to lock in a deal that secures fuel supply further into May? And just on the Ben Roberts-Smith matter, I know you can't comment on the case, fully understand that, but can you confirm that Michelle Rowland was consulted on the lane of the charges and did she consult with you?
PRIME MINISTER: I'm not going to confirm anything to do with the legal matter. That is a matter that is very important that there not be political engagement in what is a matter that is now the subject of legal proceedings. So, I don't intend to comment.
With Singapore - look, this is an important progression. I was due to go to Singapore this year. The truth is that it's happening earlier than was intended, and would have been combined with another visit. When I spoke with Prime Minister Wong, we agreed it would be good for us to have a discussion. He's a leader of the region as well. There are further discussions that we're having on a regular basis while I'm in Canberra on the phone. But nothing beats a face-to-face engagement. That will happen on Friday and I very much look forward to being welcomed to Singapore.
JOURNALIST: Will savings from reforming the NDIS be at the centre of your Budget? And how will you achieve your target growth rate of 5 to 6 per cent? Will eligibility have to be tightened even further?
PRIME MINISTER: The Budget will be on the second Tuesday in May. I look forward to all of you paying attention on that day.
JOURNALIST: In relation to fuel security, can we expect anything in the Budget that might have some longer-term measures addressing storage or there's obviously calls from the Opposition to look at more refineries, more drilling or do you see the Budget timeline as being too short to address that longer term issue? Perhaps Mr Bowen -
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I might kick off by saying that this is the Opposition, that when they were in government not that long ago in 2013, there were six refineries open. When we came back to government in 2022, there were two. And this is a Leader of the Opposition who suggested it was a good idea to keep our reserves in Texas in the United States of America. Now, we are fortunate that the reserves that we have are the largest they've been in 15 years.
BOWEN: Just to add to the Prime Minister's statements, of course, what we're doing is working very intensively with the industry of on the short term. On the longer term, of course Mr Tehan was out on the weekend, asserting that the Government had cut some sort of Diesel Storage Program. Which is just not true, just factually incorrect. The Opposition has taken every opportunity to score political points to be partisans, not patriots, over recent weeks, which is unfortunate, but a matter for them. But they've also chosen to do so inaccurately. I also saw Mr Tehan flag that he supported 90 days' worth of domestic storage, which is a $20 billion cost over four years. So, that would be a matter for the Opposition to account for in their Budget Reply, for the Budget Reply, if they choose to actually lock in that policy. Now, what we'll do is we'll continue to work with industry in the short term and then have further discussions with industry about sensible measures for the long term. But that's an ongoing conversation.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, this is the third time Donald Trump has directly named Australia, criticising for not helping. What help has Australia failed to provide, as you understand it? And, his threat to target civilian infrastructure is looming, are you worried that innocent Iranians will be killed?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, that's not a question for me. The first one. On the second, we want to see a de-escalation. We've called for that. We want to see clear objectives. The objectives that President Trump outlined at the beginning of the process have largely been achieved.
JOURNALIST: Just on this issue. So, obviously, Donald Trump is talking about sending Iran back to the Stone Age. And with this issue of bombing civilian infrastructure, do you accept there could be a place for accelerating military action to end the war quickly, or do you urge him to pull back on military action and focus on diplomacy?
PRIME MINISTER: I think it's very clear that any further escalation needs to be outlined, what the objective is. So, we've called consistently. We haven't changed our position of calling for de-escalation. This is a conflict that is having a massive impact on the global economy, in particular having a massive impact here in Australia, as it is, right around our region and right around the world.
JOURNALIST: On a different matter, to your announcement last week at the Press Club about the Government's response on gambling advertising. I think a lot of the changes you've announced were relatively straightforward, the things around the hours and TV and radio and that sort of thing. But I wanted to ask your point of view on some of the other ways that gambling companies are sort of advertising. I'm thinking about podcasts and YouTube shows and things like that. I mean, you know, you went on Karl Stefanovic's podcast a little while ago. That podcast has been sponsored at times by the Neds betting agency. Would you think that the Government's changes should prevent gambling companies from having their own podcasts, from sponsoring podcasts, YouTube shows and social media clips and that sort of thing?
PRIME MINISTER: We have put out our announcement. We'll also be putting out legislation when Parliament comes back in May. All of those matters will be considered. But the framework we have is very clear. I think it's a comprehensive response and will be a positive way forward.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, hypothetically, if a person -
PRIME MINISTER: Well, you've just answered your question there.
JOURNALIST: If a person was honoured in the Australian War Memorial with a display and they were later found guilty of war crimes. Would it be appropriate for the War Memorial to consider removing such a display?
PRIME MINISTER: I think you've answered your question with the way that you began it.
JOURNALIST: Earlier, you mentioned the agreement between Australia and Singapore to guarantee fuel and gas LNG supplies. Is there - in terms of that agreement, can you sort of, is there potential to move to a more further binding agreement that secures Australian fuel supplies going on into May, June, July?
PRIME MINISTER: We have a clear statement that I issued with Prime Minister Wong. But we'll also be talking about the full range of issues in the relationship that occurs between us. It isn't just about fuel security. That is, of course, the focus of the world at the moment. But it's a much deeper relationship than that. One of the issues that I've had the great privilege of is being a beneficiary of strong engagement with Singapore. I think the Singaporean model of how they deal in a whole range of issues of productivity, how they're dealing with new technology as we go forward as well, is something that no doubt will be the subject of conversations between us. We're great friends. I look forward to attending and I look forward to seeing some of you on the journey as well. Thanks very much.
