‘It’s a different world now’: Albanese calls snap national cabinet meeting over fuel crisis | Anthony Albanese
Anthony Albanese compared supply chain and fuel disruptions to the Covid-19 pandemic and said the federal government was preparing new measures to help protect households from the economic fallout of the war in Iran.
Announcing an emergency meeting of the national cabinet on fuel supply on Thursday morning, the prime minister warned in his speech at the Australian Automotive Dealers Association in Sydney that the international reality had changed due to US and Israeli-led bombings.
Albanese said stability and predictability in international relations had been lost and the major economic reforms of the 1980s and 1990s were no longer sufficient for the economy.
“It’s a different world now,” he said. “We need to acknowledge that and respond to that,” he said.
The national cabinet will discuss coordinating efforts to ensure that fuel shortages are minimized due to the huge increase in demand, including in regional communities where some gas stations have been closed.
Albanese said better planning for disruptions would be a feature of the May budget.
He will chair a virtual meeting of state and territory premiers from Tasmania on Thursday.
“We want to make sure we are doing everything we can to protect the Australian economy, households and businesses from the worst of global uncertainty,” he said.
“This new global challenge shows that we must continue to build Australia’s self-reliance and economic resilience.”
He described the war as the third major economic shock in a decade, likening the current crisis to the Covid-19 pandemic and the disruption caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said on Wednesday that Australia’s fuel supplies remain “very solid” despite uncertainty over passage through the Strait of Hormuz, and all deliveries to the country have so far arrived as expected. One-fifth of global fuel supplies come from the strategic waterway bordered by Iran and the United Arab Emirates.
Panic buying and stockpiling caused shortages, he said.
“We faced real shortages, particularly in rural areas, as we dealt with a 100% increase in demand in a very short period of time,” Bowen told ABC TV.
“Any supply chain is going to struggle with this, regardless of what product you’re talking about.”
The government has already ordered fuel companies to release about a fifth of their reserve oil and diesel supplies and has relaxed standards to allow higher sulfur levels in fuel.
The move is designed to inject an extra 100 million liters a month into the system for 60 days.
Greens leader Larissa Waters has called on the national cabinet to consider making public transport free to help motorists struggling with high fuel prices.
“They should discuss making public transportation free as long as the crisis continues,” Waters wrote on social media. “And since the federal government supports the war, they should foot the bill.”
Opposition leader Angus Taylor said the agricultural sector would be hit hard by fuel shortages in terms of winter crops and the planting season.
Taylor said Bowen was failing at his job.
“It needs to be across from where the fuel is located, working with companies to get it to customers, farmers and trucks,” he said.
“We need to ensure Australian fuel serves Australians but that has not been the case.”
Transport minister Catherine King is holding a fuel safety roundtable with key stakeholders from the transport sector on Wednesday.
