Press conference, Brisbane, QLD

CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Good morning. Thanks for coming, everyone. Well, Australia entered this period of international uncertainty and energy uncertainty considerably better prepared than we did after the uncertainty of the Ukraine crisis in 2022.

That's true of our energy system, with 51% of our electricity now coming from renewables, which is a sovereign source of energy for Australia. No international crisis can impact on the sun or the wind and the fact that we now have more renewables in our grid, means our system is more secure. As well as being cheaper to run, and yesterday's default market offer draft showed substantial progress and reductions proposed for energy bills in every regulated region, including here in Queensland, which were very welcome indeed.

Long way to go. Of course, we know that Australians are under cost-living pressure, but these reductions in energy bills, that we see in the draft finding by the Australian Energy Regulator, very much driven by renewable energy, and that's a good thing. I was disappointed to hear, Mr Tehan, this morning, deny the role of renewable energy in reducing energy prices, despite all the evidence that renewables are the cheapest form of energy.

We're also more secure because we built the minimum stock obligation, the legal requirement to hold stock here in Australia, petrol, diesel and jet fuel, not in the United States, not anywhere else, but here in Brisbane, and in Geelong and elsewhere throughout Australia. And the refineries, the operation of Australia's refineries are, of course, extremely important.

Viva in Geelong and Lytton, Ampol, here in Brisbane, last year produced 12 billion litres of petrol and diesel. We want to see them operating, we want to see them operating right in the future. Other governments, past governments, have stood by, watched as refineries closed, this government won’t.

And we had this view before the crisis, we have this view even more strongly, if anything, now and so after six months of rigorous work with the two refineries, I am pleased to announce the results today of the fuel security payments, and to confirm that these payments will continue, and that we have taken the decision to make it easier for Ampol and Viva to access these payments into the future, so that they can make the decision to secure their production in here Australia, in coming years.

We want to see the already allocated budgeted funds flow to Ampol and Viva in difficult times to ensure that they can continue to be viable operations. It would have been better if we'd entered this crisis with six working refineries, which is what the Labor Party left in 2013. But we enter this international crisis with two, but we are determined to keep those two and so it's been a very rigorous process where we've worked with Viva and Ampol to assess the economics of the two refineries, and while the payment rate will remain the same, the formula to access it will be liberalised, so that it better reflects the operating environment for refineries around the world, including in Australia.

More generally, I'm pleased that fuel continues to arrive in Australia. Every expected delivery has delivered, and the refineries are continuing to produce at full time. The decision I made and announced, this time last week, to release 20% of our strategic reserve has been operationalised, and I can confirm more than 500 million litres of fuel have been approved for release, and that will have an impact in the immediate future, as well as in the long term.

Although I've also been very clear that, of course, I think that Australians understand that it does take a little bit of time for those hundreds of millions of litres to flow through to every part of Australia. Later today in Sydney, I'll convene the Energy and Climate Ministers council, where I expect every state and territory and New Zealand to be represented, where we will update each other on our levels of preparation.

There are roles for every level of government here, for State and Federal and Territory. I welcome the engagement of those state ministers today. Every minister has powers; every minister has a role of play.

Every state and federal department has information collecting powers, and we'll be sharing that and we'll be joined by the newly appointed fuel supply and supply chain coordinator Anthea Harris on that briefing this afternoon. Happy to take some questions. JOURNALIST: Minister, what's the government's contingency plan for when fuel supply becomes more uncertain in May?

Well, thank you for the question and you're correct, we've had indications from all the refiners and importers that we expect, this current situation to continue well into April, that is, that fuel supplies will continue and are locked in, will continue to arrive. Obviously beyond that, beyond that late April period, we're dealing with more uncertainty, depends how the international circumstance rolls out.

That's one of the things that the ECMC will compare notes on today, the various contingency planning. As I said yesterday, governments would expect working on the basis that we need to prepare for different contingencies, including ongoing uncertainty. There are, you know, we're not at the situation where we need to contemplate further measures just now, but we should be contemplating what we might need to do should things worsen, and that is the work that will continue between governments.

JOURNALIST: And sorry, what is the federal government's contingency plan? You said the states and territories, we'll be sharing theirs at this afternoons meeting. Well, I mean, we'll be comparing notes on the current situation and on the contingency planning that we're doing and obviously, our plan involves continuing to work with industry, to ensure that refiners are working full-pelt, we will release more of the strategic fuel reserve if we have to, but only if we have to.

It's there for a rainy day, I have released 20% to help with the demand, the big spike in demand. Obviously, the rest needs to be kept, should there be further disruption to supply, but if I'm satisfied that releasing that strategic reserve is necessary to ensure supply to Australians, I won't hesitate, but only in that eventually. JOURNALIST: Is rationing an option that's on the table?

Well, look, as I said previously, we're not there and we're not close to there. That’s not been contemplated as something that we need to do in the immediate future. Of course, again, governments have powers, should supply be very severely disrupted, but the important message for Australians is that, that supply is not being disrupted at this point.

What we're dealing with is a very big increase in demand, which is understandable with what people are watching on television but our message to Australians remains by as much fuel as you need, not more, not less. JOURNALIST: The PM's department is asked for Treasury modelling on a new windfall tax for gas giants to call back some profits for Australians. Do you think that's a good idea?

I’d like make just a few brief points. Firstly, I think some people have understandably forgotten, but in our first term, the Treasurer did an excellent job in performing PRRT and secured an extra $2 billion in government revenue from gas companies. That's a good thing and I congratulate the Treasurer on that work, in difficult circumstances, against the wishes of the opposition.

Secondly, the budget is delivered in May, not in March, and thirdly, I don't comment on cabinet processes. JOURNALIST: Is it something that you can rule out? It's something that I won’t comment on cabinet processes.

JOURNALIST: Do you see any merit to it, though? Third time, I don’t comment on cabinet processes. JOURNALIST: Is it worth looking into a levy, though, on gas companies, given the circumstances?

Budget is delivered in May and not March. You would expect the Treasurer and the Treasury with his Senior Ministerial colleagues to be working through potential options. I won't be commenting on Cabinet processes.

JOURNALIST: So what would convince the government that it's a good idea? The budget will be delivered in May, and I won't be commenting on Cabinet processes today, tomorrow, or anytime before budget day, and the budget will be delivered by the Treasurer, not by the energy minister. Any other questions?

JOURNALIST: I've got a parochial question. A parochial question. OK.

We’ll, take that. JOURNALIST: The Premier and the energy minister yesterday said that they felt ridiculed and lectured by you in question time because they say Queensland was the first state to raise the problem of the national fuel crisis. That's not a correct.

Your question? JOURNALIST: and do you think that you took Queensland's warnings seriously enough? I'm glad that the Premier came yesterday, contributed very constructively.

That's welcome. That's not the approach he's deputy Premier took earlier in this situation. The Deputy Premier chose to play politics.

Governments are expected, I think, of the Australian people to work together. What the deputy Premier did was mislead Australians. He said our minimum stock obligation was being run down, and that was just not the case.

I imagine he wasn't properly briefed. I imagine he was just speaking from him, and not deliberately misleading Australians about how much stock we had in hand, but it was still irresponsible, deeply irresponsible, by the deputy Premier, and deeply unfortunate. And, you know, writing each other letters and distributing to the media before you set them, It's pretty, pretty undergraduate politics, which the deputy Premier engaged in.

But I welcome the fact that the Queensland government has chosen a more mature approach now, the Premier yesterday, as I would expect, the Premier, compared to the deputy Premier. Minister Janetski will participate, I'm sure, in today's meeting. I welcome his involvement.

I welcome the fact that every state and territory is involved. States and territories have power, something, again, the deputy Premier didn't talk about. Didn't appear to know, that actually this is a joint effort.

He said it's all, every, every responsibility is on Commonwealth. The Commonwealth is responsible for total national fuel supply and total national fuel supply is very strong. If the deputy Premier wants to play politics, in a pretty undergraduate fashion, he can, but it's not constructive.

JOURNALIST: Minister, the opposition says you should quit your United Nations role to focus on domestic issues. Is that a role you're willing to give up? Every contribution by the federal opposition has shown in this situation so far, they're just not serious people.

I mean, there's a role for the opposition to be constructive here. That's the role that the Labor Party took in the COVID situation, criticised where we felt we had to but also to give plenty of bipartisan support to the government of the day, the Morrison government, where we could, and not to take sort of cheap political hot shots. Mr Tehan has chosen a very different role, very different approach.

It shows that the opposition's not serious people. International engagement in an international crisis, a good thing, not a bad thing. I was very disappointed yesterday that Mr Tehan issued a statement to a newspaper criticising the government for welcoming the Pacific Climate Ministers to Brisbane.

I thought that was deeply unfortunate. The Pacific are important partners for Australia, in many senses, and engagement with them is a good thing, and Mr Tehan criticising me for meeting with the Pacific Climate Ministers yesterday, I thought was deeply unfortunate. And he, Mr Tehan, has been criticising our international engagement from day one.

He's wrong. I will be continuing my role in assisting the COP processes. Mr Tehan might not have the energy or the capacity to have a outward facing job as well as an inwards facing job, but I do.

JOURNALIST: Several countries have issued a statement condemning attacks on vessels from Iran, unarmed commercial vessels in the gulf, was signed by Canada, the UK, France, was Australia asked to sign on to that statement. Look, we certainly agree with the sentiment that we want Iran to stop its actions. Prime Minister has been very clear about that.

I'll leave commentary about, you know, statements to the Foreign Minister, and the Prime Minister, but certainly the sentiment that we want to see, this situation in the Middle East sorted, and Iran has a responsibility, is one that we support. JOURNALIST: Matt Canavan wants to drill the great Australian bite. Do you think that should happen?

Mr. Canavan, to be fair, has never really had a very constructive approach to renewable energy, and I expect that to continue. All approaches to oil extraction will be handled the same way as all other extraction, only in appropriate environmental areas after appropriate environmental approvals.

JOURNALIST: You're talking about panic buying, still being the big issue here for the fuel issues. What can the new fuel supply coordinator actually do to address panic buying? Well, what she will do is work with and for ministers through the Prime Minister to better coordinate across states as a full-time bureaucratic role and the Commonwealth across multiple portfolios.

So, you know, no secret, you know, one of the issues that we are having to closely monitor is fertiliser, for example, and it's each supply chain. I think that is the key role for Anthea Harris, which I very much welcome her appointment. Again, I must say, I deeply regret the fact that the opposition has chosen to attack her, attack politicians, if you like, do not attack public servants.

Just don't do it. Ms. Harris has been asked to do a job.

She did is eminent Australian public servant, and she should be respected by the opposition, I invite them to just reflect on that. Her role is to coordinate across the bureaucracy, state, and federal, the response and share information with the states. Ministers are all working hard.

Obviously, departmental secretaries are working hard. She’ll bring a valuable role in assisting that process and I'm sure, I hope, that that helps give Australians more reassurance, so there's no need for panic buying. Again, I understand we shouldn't lump all people into the same category.

I understand that people see the news and see ships being bombed in the Strait of Hormuz and are concerned. But as I said, my important message is that every ship that has been expected to arrive in Australia has arrived, our two refiners are working absolutely full bore, and there is no need for Australians to be concerned about their access to fuel supplies coming into the country.

We’ll continue to work to alleviate very real and unacceptable shortages in rural Australia in particular. Everyone's working very hard at that, but panic buying doesn't make that situation easier. It makes it much harder.

Thanks for your time today. 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.