Financial relief for businesses hit by Middle East war
Truckers, fuel suppliers and fertilizer producers will be among the businesses that can receive interest-free loans from the federal government to reduce the impact of war in the Middle East.
Businesses affected by the fuel supply crisis will be able to access low-cost loans within two weeks, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will tell the National Press Club on Thursday.
The loans will be distributed as part of the government’s existing $1 billion economic resilience program in the National Reconstruction Fund.
Mr Albanese will say the loans will be critical to recovering not just businesses but the wider economy from the crisis caused by fuel shocks.
“No government can promise to eliminate the pressures this crisis will bring, but we will be a shock absorber, a buffer against the worst, in a period of global shocks,” he will say.
“We will do everything we can to protect the Australian people from whatever the world throws at us.”
The speech will be delivered a day after the prime minister addressed the nation on all television and radio platforms about the steps taken to mitigate the effects of the fuel crisis.
Australia is expected to detail its stance on the Middle East conflict and increase security measures, while also securing economic sovereignty and global supply chains.
“Achieving this stability and security in the midst of uncertainty does not mean standing still while the world around us changes. It means anticipating and creating change while remaining true to Australian values and Australia’s interests,” he will say.
“If people think the economy is not working for them, if they are putting in effort but not seeing any reward, if planning for the future feels like a luxury, then the government cannot ensure stability by leaving things as they are.
“There is no security in maintaining a status quo that does not benefit people.”
The situation in the Middle East and the inflationary challenges it causes will cast a shadow over May’s federal budget as the effects of the rise in oil prices continue.
The Prime Minister will say that a balance must be struck in the budget between making the country more resilient and providing ease in living costs.
“It will be our government’s most important budget to date and the most ambitious. It should be so,” he will say.
“The scale of the challenge we face and the breadth of opportunities before us demand this ambition and urgency.”
Australia’s Associated Press is the beating heart of Australian news. AAP is Australia’s only independent national news channel and has been providing accurate, reliable and fast-paced news content to the media industry, government and corporate sector for 85 years. We inform Australia.
