Good morning. Firstly, if I can make some comments about Tropical Cyclone Narelle, because it's been a really tough night for so many people in Western Australia. Please continue to look after each other. The system's been downgraded, but it is still dangerous and the aftermath of heavy winds and rainfall is continuing. We're in touch regularly with the WA Government and stand ready to assist with the recovery. And can I just give a big shout out to the emergency service workers. When you looked at the news last night, what you saw was locals being pretty courageous amongst what were really difficult circumstances. And that included, of course, those people who were helping their fellow Australians. At the worst of times, we always see the best of the Australian character. And we're seeing that in Western Australia at the moment. It does say something about extreme weather conditions, that you can have a cyclone cross the coast at Cape York and has continued right across the Northern Territory, right across to WA and down the WA coast as well. So, our thoughts are with everyone in Western Australia at the moment, but also those who are continuing to be impacted in the Northern Territory and Queensland from the aftermath of this cyclone.
Today, I want to make some important comments about decisions that the Government has made regarding our response to the fuel security issues arising from the war in the Middle East. This is a war that is across the other side of the world, but it's having a real impact here, as it is in every nation. Here, people in local communities, farmers, small businesses, miners are all being impacted. If you go to your local petrol station and there's no fuel, that causes understandable distress. We are working around the clock to make sure we deal with the fuel security issues. And today we have a really important announcement. The Government is taking national action to help get the fuel restocked. We know that six out of 81 ships that were scheduled to arrive in April cancelled, those arrivals have been more than replaced by other arrivals that have now been scheduled. We're working to get more fuel to Australia, but we're also working on distribution to get it to where it needs to go. Which is why we've ensured, for example, that the fuel reserves that have been released are going to regional areas, to areas that are most in need.
Today, I announce that Australia will establish new powers to get fuel here for Australians. Our new fuel security powers will enable the Government to underwrite the purchase of fuel by the private sector. Importantly, it will also allow for the purchase of fertiliser and other essentials as well. I want us to have the strongest possible plans, so we're ready for what may come. I want to keep our people, our economy, and our nation moving. We're already in discussions with local and international fuel suppliers to help firm up and source new cargoes required to keep Australia moving. Put simply, we will use Export Finance Australia to underwrite the purchase of shiploads of fuel that will add to supply here in Australia. This support from the Government will not be business as usual. It has to be additional supplies that are available on the international market, and it literally will be underwriting the purchase of shiploads of fuel to get here to Australia. We've been working on this over the last few days, and I want to thank the officials in Chris's department, in mine, in Treasury and Finance, and others as well, working with the business community on this plan.
How it will work is that on Monday we'll introduce into the House of Representatives amendments to the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Act. These powers will be used to help acquire the additional supply that's so valuable for Australia's fuel security, where it would be cost prohibitive for private suppliers to source on commercial terms without government support. Put simply, there is a risk of a private purchase of a shipload of fuel at higher prices because there is so much uncertainty with the war in the Middle East that this is about risk mitigation for them to add to supply here. It will give suppliers the confidence to secure additional and discretionary cargoes and use it to service uncontracted demand, including for regional and independent fuel suppliers. So, we want more fuel here, and we want to make sure it gets to the right place as well.
While Australia's fuel supply outlook remains secure in the near term because of the actions that the Government has taken, let's be clear that the longer this war goes on, the more the impacts will be. So what we want to do is to be overprepared, and that is essentially the action that we're taking now to prepare and shield Australians from the potential implications which are there. This is another example following on from all of the other actions that we've taken, the actions of the ACCC, the actions of the Fuel Supply Taskforce Coordinator, the work that we've done with international suppliers to keep those scheduled fuel supplies coming to Australia as well. This is in addition to that. And I want to assure Australians that we will do whatever is necessary to make sure that their interests are looked after, because we understand that this is a really difficult time here in Australia, as it is right around the world. I'll call upon the minister and then we'll take some questions.
CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE & ENERGY: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. Before I add to the Prime Minister's remarks about today's announcement, I'll give you the weekly update that I do now every week on Australia's fuel stocks, as I've done since the beginning of this international challenge on our supply chain. Firstly, Australia now has 39 days of petrol, 1.6 billion litres, which is up very slightly. Diesel, 30 days, which is pretty flat at 2.7 billion litres. And jet fuel, 30 days also, 828 million litres. What that tells me is that while the fuel is flowing strongly out the door, especially to regional Australia, it also continues to flow in the door, that every expected arrival has arrived and that our international supply chain remains secure at this point, as we've said all the way along. That's important to reassure Australians.
Also, I can give a little update that since we released the Minimum Stock Obligation, the 20 per cent, a few examples - I've given figures in recent days about how much fuel is flowing extra to regional Australia, but just a little update. For example, one provider has provided an additional 20 per cent to go to farmers and regional communities out of fuel. Another provider has provided 1,200 kilolitres extra diesel to a regional distributor, and one provider has provided an extra 400 kilolitres to the rural Dubbo region, which is so important and seeding at the moment, to fill bulk tanks. Now, we know that demand, particularly in rural Australia, because agriculture is at a very busy time, remains exceedingly high. And this supply is still not enough, but we are increasing supply and working in a very complicated supply chain to get the fuel to where it needs to go. To add to the Prime Minister's remarks about today's important announcement, our very close consultation with the fuel industry over the last week or so has told us that while the ships continue to come to Australia, and while the six cancellations have been more than replaced with new orders, the fact of the matter is cargo internationally is available, but is getting increasingly expensive and increasingly risky in a volatile environment as the Prime Minister said, oil prices moving up and down.
And so, companies who do want to order more cargoes in the national interest are also facing very difficult decisions. That's in the national interest that that cargo comes to Australia, not other countries. So, we want to help the companies make the decision to buy those cargoes. So, as the PM said, on Monday, we'll be introducing legislation, which will give Export Finance Australia the capacity to have a very flexible suite of measures to work with companies. They can provide insurance, they can provide derivatives, they can provide loans and other arrangements to make sure that those companies can go and get those cargoes for Australia and for Australians. At the moment, those companies are making those commercial decisions. They are buying cargoes, but at elevated prices. If those prices continue to move around, there'll be cargoes that Australia misses out on unless the Government acts in close partnership.
So that's exactly what we're doing today. I want to thank, as the PM said, my ministerial colleagues, the Treasurer, the Trade Minister and others for working with us to make this a reality. It will also, as the PM said, support Minister Julie Collins in her work to get fertiliser and other key resources into Australia to make sure that we are ahead of the curve. The supply chain is strong, but in this environment, Australia needs to stay one step ahead and under this Prime Minister, we are one step ahead of the curve, seeing what is coming down the road, that this is going to get more volatile, potentially. The prices internationally will go up more, potentially, so we need to be prepared for that, not just for today, but for the coming weeks. And under this new arrangement, which we'll get through the Parliament, hopefully - we ask all parties to support this, we'll obviously be providing relevant briefings to get it through the Parliament quickly so it can start work in the best interests of Australians. Thank you.
PRIME MINISTER: Happy to take questions.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, would you support a cut to the fuel excise?
PRIME MINISTER: My Government has very much focused on cost-of-living measures. We'll continue to do so. We continue to do so in the context of the Budget and the preparations that we're making for the Budget in May. It must be said that right across the board, whether the measures to assist people in health with the strengthening of Medicare, whether it be the submission that we made yesterday to the Fair Work Commission arguing for a real wage increase for people on the minimum wage and award wages, almost three million Australians. That's about helping out where it's needed as well. So, we'll give appropriate consideration to all of the further measures as we go forward. But the issue here as well is, of course, one of supply, has been very much our immediate concerns. And today's announcement is a major step forward. The fact that we have to amend the Act, which covers Export Finance Australia - obviously this isn't for exports, this is for imports - but it will make a difference. It's a really practical measure so that if there's a cargo out there available from a nation like Korea that is being bid upon, then the private sector can do that with the confidence that comes from government support in order to secure that additional supply.
JOURNALIST: But on the fuel excise specifically, will you rule out cutting it?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, I've answered the question. What we do is we always look at cost-of-living measures. We do so in a responsible way in the context of the Budget.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, I know Mr Bowen said we had 39 days, I believe, of secure fuel. With the shipments coming in, I understand you've got more shipments. What does that actually mean, say, if the war extends past April?
PRIME MINISTER: One of the things that we're doing here today as well is to be overprepared. So we know that every ship that was due to arrive in March in this month has arrived. We know as well that the six out of the 81 that were scheduled to come in April have been more than replaced by others as well. And this measure today will ensure further supplies as well, the confidence that we are giving as well out there. I say this - overwhelmingly Australians have done the right thing because that's what Australians do. But I note some of the photographs in the Daily Telegraph today of multiple jerry cans being filled up. That's not the Australian way. That's not the Australian way. People need to take what they need and no more. In addition to that, we don't want to be, I've said we need to learn the lessons of COVID, now, I don't want things to be mandated, but common sense should apply as well. There are more people working from home who are able to do so. That makes sense. There are more people catching public transport than before. That also makes sense. So, common sense, working together at what is a global issue, but responding locally, having national leadership, making sure as well, that on Monday at the National Cabinet, ensuring that we don't have eight different systems going eight different directions. That's one of the other issues that came about from an assessment of COVID. Now, I understand people were responding at state and territory governments as well as the federal government responding in difficult circumstances. But when you look back, did it make sense to have different rules on the Tweed from the Gold Coast or either side of the Murray? No. So, how do we make sure that we act together? That's why I'm bringing National Cabinet together for a second time as well, to make sure that we have that national coordination.
JOURNALIST: Would the Government mandate working from home, bringing in rationing if fuel levels reached a certain point? And what would that point be?
PRIME MINISTER: I've just said that the best way for us to operate is to work cooperatively, is to seek to have voluntary arrangements rather than any mandating from the top. I think the best way for Australia to deal with this is for business to work with governments at different levels, all three levels of government, and for individuals and communities as well to respond responsibly. The head of the International Energy Agency was here just last week, Dr Birol. And one of the things that they've done is point out some of the measures that can be taken to reduce demand. Now, they're sensible measures, but they're not suggesting and we're not suggesting a mandating of that. But we are, of course, encouraging common sense when it comes to this, as well as encouraging, whether it be individuals or businesses, take what you need. This isn't toilet paper that's being piled up in some garages. It's actually fuel, and that's not sensible on a range of levels. One, it's not doing the right thing by your fellow Australians, but importantly as well, it can be dangerous.
JOURNALIST: Are you looking at delaying a move to tax drivers of EVs?
PRIME MINISTER: We'll have our Budget in May, and we'll deal with that, those issues are really complex, by the way. The idea that you can change the whole way that distance charging was talked about when Paul Fletcher was the minister, you might remember a fellow called Paul Fletcher. I was the shadow minister at the time, and he had proposals that under the former government, I think it was either under Tony Abbott or Malcolm Turnbull. So these things are complex. They require a whole change in systems and cooperation across different levels of government. What we're focused on in the Budget, obviously, is this context will change the deliberations that happen in the Budget. That's just the truth of the matter, is that we are working through very much the Budget. How do we make sure that it's a responsible Budget? How do we pursue reform in a context of a global impact of a war in the Middle East, not one in which Australia is a participant, as a protagonist, but one which is having an impact right around the world, whether people are participants or not.
JOURNALIST: You mentioned the pictures we've seen in the Daily Telegraph of people stocking up. Would you consider punishing these people who are hoarding, I suppose?
PRIME MINISTER: I think those issues are a matter for states, for police if there's any breach of the law. The Commonwealth isn't about to get down to that level. But people need to act responsibly as well. I think that sometimes the search for governments to provide answers to something that is really a personal responsibility issue. I'm stunned at the photos. I think one of them had four. Are you from the Tele? There you go. Free ad. Four or five jerry cans. And I was with the head of Bunnings just last weekend, had a discussion with him. They've run out of jerry cans. That's not sensible. People need to act responsibly at this time.
JOURNALIST: Have you raised concerns about the fuel shortages and the economic impacts with President Trump?
PRIME MINISTER: I have had a discussion with President Trump. The discussions I have with President Trump are between myself and President Trump.
JOURNALIST: [INDISTINCT]
PRIME MINISTER: I made public when we had the conversation, but the whole world knows this is having an impact. This isn't just in Australia. There is an inflationary impact right around the world. What our job is as the Australian Government is to shield Australians as best as we can from the impacts of this and to plan for the future. So, one of the things about today's announcement is this isn't about dealing with something that will happen next week. This is prudent planning. This is about being overprepared. That's what my Government does. We act responsibly, we consider advice, we act in an orderly way, and we put in place measures to protect Australians. That's what we've done today. Thanks very much. Thank you.
