Press conference, Brisbane

CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Firstly, I wanted to give you an update on the release of Australia’s strategic fuel reserve, as I announced last Friday. As I announced, we would release around 20 per cent of our petrol and diesel reserves on the condition that those companies required under law to hold those reserves in Australia work with the Government to ensure the flow of that petrol and diesel, in particular to the regional areas that are experiencing shortages.

I’m pleased to say now that 519 million litres of petrol and diesel has now been released and is being directed into regional Australia. As I said at the time, we have to be clear with people, it will take a little bit of time for this to flow through the supply chain. The refineries don’t have trucks just sitting there waiting to deliver the fuel in the car park.

But what we have seen is real action between government and industry to ensure that supply can flow as quickly as possible. That’s why this Government set up and approved the minimum stockholding obligation, so it was available at times like this. And that is working as we intended it to, as I announced last Friday.

I do know that people in regional areas do continue to see shortages. We are continuing to see very high demand, and we’ll continue to give the factual updates that ships continue to arrive in Australia with petrol and diesel on them, that the refineries are working full pelt at maximum capacity to get petrol and diesel out to Australians, and we’ll continue to do what is necessary to see those shortages alleviated as soon as possible.

I very much welcome the appointment of Anthea Harris this morning as the fuel supply coordinator to work across government, across portfolios. It’s not just about fuel. Ministers Ayres, Collins, King and I have been meeting with sectors about the impacts on fertiliser, for example.

There are state coordination efforts to undertake. There are industries ringing in with different supply chain issues. The coordinator will work across the bureaucracy, with and for ministers through the Prime Minister, to ensure that the entire public service, and the public services of the states and territories, are coordinated in these efforts, which is quite common when you face a situation like this, such as with COVID.

This is a good thing. The second thing I’ll cover today is that the Australian Energy Regulator has today released the Default Market Offer draft. This is the document which Angus Taylor hid in 2022 when it showed 20 per cent increases in energy prices.

Today’s figures are a lot more encouraging than that. Today, we’ve seen the Energy Regulator flag reductions in energy prices in every single regulated region. I very much welcome this.

This is good progress, and it’s no coincidence that this comes at the same time as we’ve hit 51 per cent renewable energy in the grid, because renewable energy is the cheapest form of energy. Here in Queensland, in relation to Energex, we’ve seen a draft reduction of 12.8 per cent for households and 8.2 per cent for small businesses. In New South Wales, there are reductions of 10 per cent and 8.5 per cent for different network providers, and encouragingly, a small business reduction of 21 per cent for those in the Essential Energy network, which is predominantly rural and regional New South Wales.

In South Australia as well, prices are down for households and small business. The DMO covers New South Wales, South East Queensland and South Australia. We saw last week the Victorian Default Market Offer, with prices coming down 3 per cent.

So where those prices are regulated, they’re coming down. Again, this is not the end of the work on cost of living, far from it. Australian households continue to be under pressure.

But I think anyone of goodwill would welcome a reduction in energy prices of this order. Obviously this is the draft. The Energy Regulator will be working over the coming weeks on the final determination, but it is a very, very good indication indeed.

Also, this Default Market Offer reflects Solar Sharer, the announcement I made some months ago that in Default Market Offer jurisdictions, including here in South East Queensland, energy companies would be required under law to give an option for three hours of free power each and every day. When the sun is shining at its brightest and power is negative or at its cheapest, then consumers, whether they have solar panels or not, whether they be renters or not, should be able to benefit from that, and that is reflected in the Default Market Offer today.

Final matter I’ll just deal with before taking questions is that today I’ve welcomed the Pacific Climate Ministers into Brisbane to talk about many matters. We will of course discuss the energy crisis and its impact on the Pacific as well as Australia. We’ve updated each other on our efforts.

We’ve talked about our collaboration this year and beyond. It is always great to see international colleagues, and I’ve been glad to welcome them into Brisbane today. Happy to take questions.

JOURNALIST: The Coalition says the fuel security coordinator has little industry experience outside the public bureaucracy. What qualifications does she have? Oh really?

I hadn’t seen that comment, but that just shows the Opposition’s level of negativity is embarrassing. A situation like this is a chance for an opposition to step up and be constructive. That’s what we did in COVID.

We had some criticisms of the Morrison Government, but we had plenty of praise as well, and we had constructive suggestions. For the Opposition to criticise a very fine public servant who has worked in the Australian Energy Regulator, as well as other state and federal energy bodies, is quite disappointing. I hadn’t heard that they had criticised this fine public servant, but if the Opposition has done that, they should hang their heads in shame and be more constructive and more positive.

JOURNALIST: The ACCC is investigating allegations of anti-competitive behaviour by oil companies. If that’s found to be true, should the book be thrown at them? We’ll back the regulator, the ACCC.

We’ll back the regulator to implement the law and make sure consumers are being put first. Obviously, we are working, I’m working directly with industry to get more petrol and diesel out the door. That’s constructive.

I’ll keep doing that. I’ll also back the regulator to do their job. If there has been anti-competitive conduct, of course the people who have done it should be dealt with with the full force of the law.

But I’m not going to provide a running commentary on the actual work they’re doing. They’re doing their job. They’ve now said they’re doing this investigation.

They should now be allowed to get on with the investigation, and they’ll give the public updates. JOURNALIST: Will the fuel security coordinator have any powers? A fuel security coordinator will advise government.

Ministers have powers. I have powers. State ministers have powers.

At the moment, what we’re doing is working with industry to ensure that the fuel can get to where it’s needed as soon as possible, as best we can. The fuel taskforce coordinator will work with government and ministers who hold powers. JOURNALIST: Are you still confident on supply for March and April?

JOURNALIST: What about May and beyond? The advice to me continues to be that the ships that we’ve expected to arrive have arrived, and that all the contracted ships are expected to arrive all through March and into April. Beyond that, we do face an international circumstance which is changing daily.

We’ve been frank with Australians about that from the beginning. That’s why we continue to do this work, to prepare for the worst in an uncertain environment. Obviously, we’ll continue to do that.

And that’s why we say there’s no need to panic, because the ships are arriving, the refineries are working flat out. But beyond the second half of April is when there is more uncertainty. JOURNALIST: Have the governments of Singapore, South Korea, or any other Asian nation we import fuel from guaranteed they won’t withhold exports?

We continue to engage with them, obviously, but they have been reliable friends and suppliers, and we continue to engage with them very constructively. JOURNALIST: Have any assurances been provided by them? They certainly haven’t indicated anything otherwise.

We are energy partners, and that partnership is very important to us, and to them. JOURNALIST: Will the fuel subsidy increase? What fuel subsidy?

I’m not sure what you’re referring to, sorry. JOURNALIST: Donald Trump has gestured towards sanctions on Venezuela. What’s your response to that?

That’s a matter for the United States. JOURNALIST: With the global attacks on gas points in Iran, could that destroy room for energy prices? We have obviously been monitoring the gas and coal and all energy prices very closely.

The good news is that gas prices in Australia have, at this point, not been too severely impacted. But obviously that work continues. Anything like that is a negative development.

JOURNALIST: Given the current state of global markets, does the Government have any regrets about the way it has dealt with petroleum exploration and production companies since it came to power? Companies like Woodside have complained about how long it can take to get approval. Would you do something differently now?

Environmental approvals are important, and I think all companies need to recognise that. JOURNALIST: Fuel has a lot of flow-on effects in areas like chemicals, medicines and fertilisers. Are those supply chains still working as expected?

There are challenges in fertilisers. That’s been something that Minister Julie Collins has been talking to our roundtables about. Obviously, that’s one of the reasons for appointing a coordinator, because you’re right, there are flow-on effects to different supply chain issues.

At this point, supply chains are working relatively well. But there are implications which need to be coordinated. Fertiliser is, if you like, at the acute end of the spectrum.

JOURNALIST: How long is the extra 20 per cent in fuel reserves expected to last? We’re getting it out the door. I think it was petrol, five days, diesel, six days extra supply, but that’s not really the point.

We’re not doing it to get extra time. We’re doing it to get extra supply into the regions. JOURNALIST: Will there be rebates for the fishing industry?

That’s not really something that the Commonwealth Government would progress. That’s something that obviously any industry is entitled to put to governments across the board. But at the moment, what we’re doing, and I’ve done this personally and directly, is work to get as much fuel to fishing companies and others as possible.

JOURNALIST: If sanctions on Venezuela are eased by the US, would that potentially open up new supplies for Australia? It’s not a direct supply route into Australia. Obviously, more oil into the global supply chain is something which reduces pressure generally.

But the Venezuela-Australia supply route is not a well-traversed one. JOURNALIST: Will Australian LNG exports be looked at if global supply is restricted? We’ve announced our gas reservation policy, and that’s the policy that we’re working through implementing at the moment.

JOURNALIST: How will you help small businesses and families in the Budget? I very much welcome the reductions in small business energy prices today. Twenty-one per cent in Essential Energy, 12 per cent for Energex here in Queensland, 10 per cent in Ausgrid, 8.5 per cent for Endeavour Energy, and 15 per cent in South Australia.

They’re small business energy price reductions. So given you asked about small business relief, obviously the Budget’s in a few weeks. Treasurer Chalmers delivers the Budget on Budget night, not me, in Brisbane a couple of weeks in advance.

Thanks very much, guys. We acknowledge the Traditional Owners of country throughout Australia and recognise their continuing connection to land, waters and culture. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging.