National cabinet meeting today; Australia petrol prices soar; fuel excise cut not ruled out
Finance Minister Jim Chalmers said state and territory leaders will meet the prime minister this morning to co-ordinate the national response to the ongoing fuel crisis in a bid to avoid a “COVID-style” response.
“The best way to tackle this is to tackle this together, to solve these problems in a coordinated and ideally consistent way across the country,” Chalmers said. ABC News Breakfast a short while ago.
“The best way to avoid tougher COVID-style measures is to get the job done. The better we do on the front end of this challenge, the more likely we are to avoid some of these tougher measures and restrictions moving forward.”
The national cabinet will meet in Canberra at 10am (AEDT) this morning, as the federal parliament meets for the last time ahead of the May budget. State and territory leaders will attend virtually or in person, as well as the prime minister and relevant federal ministers.
Chalmers said the government was “keen” to support voluntary work-from-home measures to save fuel. He said this would be among a range of policies discussed in the national cabinet:
One of the reasons why the Prime Minister is bringing the states and territories together today is because we want to avoid harsh restrictions. We want to avoid these kinds of heavy-handed COVID interventions and make sure people are doing the most responsible thing they can.
“The better we do at the front end of this challenge to our economy, the more likely we are to avoid such harsher measures and restrictions moving forward.”
