Interview with Emma Rebellato, ABC News Breakfast

EMMA REBELLATO : Well, as Australians return home from a long weekend, the Federal Government has received assurances from its major international fuel exporters that supplies will proceed as normal. The Federal Energy Minister, Chris Bowen joins us now. Minister, thanks for joining us.

CHRIS BOWEN : Pleasure, Emma. Good morning. EMMA REBELLATO : Before I get to those assurances internationally, I want to start by asking about the situation in our petrol stations across Australia.

How many are without some sort of fuel at the moment? CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, we've made good progress over the weekend, Emma. I want to thank all the workers, the truck drivers, the refinery workers who work so hard to keep up with that extra demand over the weekend.

The latest figures I've got show that we have 283 service stations across Australia without diesel out of the around 8000 service stations across Australia. That's down substantially. The biggest challenge has been in New South Wales where it's sowing and seeding season, where the farmers are getting their seeds in, and fuel companies have rightly been prioritising them to make sure they get the fuel.

That means our service station number outages in New South Wales have been much higher than in other states, but they've come down substantially. We now have 145 out of diesel in New South Wales out of around 2400 service stations, so around 6 per cent without diesel. Diesel's where the main pressure has been.

But again, good progress being made. We've seen massive spikes in demand for diesel. Same amount coming into Australia, same amount being made, but massive spikes in demand.

But everyone's worked pretty hard. That Easter period was- obviously, demand was going to be higher as people move around, but to actually see that progress made, according to my latest figures, is pretty encouraging. EMMA REBELLATO: So how are we looking for supplies at the moment, and getting those supplies out to the areas that need it?

CHRIS BOWEN : So yeah, every Saturday now I update the country on how much fuel we have on hand. I've been doing that for now four weeks since this international crisis really began. And on Easter Saturday, I held a press conference and announced we have now 39 days’ worth of petrol and 29 days’ worth of jet fuel and diesel.

That's pretty static, that's pretty flat. That tells me two things. One, the fuel is going out the door but the fuel is coming in the door as well.

We've seen big increases in demand. Easter demand was around 30 per cent higher than the year before, the Easter before. But we're seeing that fuel come in, and our forward orders for April, in terms of imports, are very solid.

That's encouraging. We've always said there's risks, of course, the longer this goes on. But also, we are seeing the imports being held up to pretty good levels.

EMMA REBELLATO: On that, can you guarantee that the ships on their way to Australia will definitely get here? Because we did see some last month that didn't arrive. CHRIS BOWEN: No, that's not right.

With respect, Emma, every ship that has been expected to arrive has arrived in Australia. We did see six forward orders cancelled, a very important distinction. Six orders that were predicted a month in advance cancelled, but then they were replaced and more by other orders.

So once that ship leaves the port, whether it be Singapore or Seoul, on its way to Australia, it is owned by the Australian fuel company. It's owned by Ampol or Viva or whoever is importing it. It is their physical property.

We only count the fuel that's actually in Australia's economic zone in terms of those numbers I just shared with you. But nevertheless, there's more fuel on the way from those places. And once they leave those ports, they are locked in.

It's the more forward orders that we keep a very close eye on. But again, those figures, at this point, are pretty strong and encouraging. EMMA REBELLATO: Okay, thank you for that that clarification.

I do appreciate it. I want to ask you about the conversations you've had with other countries about fuel supplies. What assurances have you been given?

CHRIS BOWEN: Yeah, we've been having lots of conversations, the PM, the Foreign Minister and I, with our respective counterparts, particularly in Southeast Asia and Asia more broadly. And that's very encouraging – again, they get it. These countries understand that we rely on them for these fuel imports, just as they rely on us for gas.

And we need to be reliable for each other. And they've made that very clear. The PM of Singapore has made it very clear to our PM, and there'll be further conversations later this week.

I've been talking to all my counterparts. Everyone understands that we are best placed getting through this together, and they have provided us with reassurances that they are not planning any policy changes, that they want to continue to be a reliable energy supplier. Obviously, they're going through their own challenges, getting the crude oil to refine the fuel to export to us and to other countries.

But they are working hard to diversify their supply. They're getting oil from other places, United States, Mexico, other places, not just the Middle East now, and that's a good thing. But obviously, it takes a lot of management and it takes longer to get there.

EMMA REBELLATO: Last week, we know the Prime Minister made an address to the nation encouraging people to perhaps think about working from home if they can. What's the message now? Is it still the same?

Should people really be seriously thinking about doing that? CHRIS BOWEN: The message is the same, Emma. It is basically- our basic message is let's be sensible.

We have plenty of fuel in Australia, but demand's been very high. If we all make sensible decisions about making sure that we only get the fuel we need and we would normally buy, and where you can work from home, it's not for everyone. Not everyone can do it.

But if you can work from home and you're happy with that and your boss is happy with that, that's a great idea. Catching public transport is a great idea. It's just sensible in your own interest with petrol prices being higher than anyone would like at the moment and with that big increase in demand we've been dealing with.

But we're not- we have also made it clear, we're now at the tail end of Easter, but people should carry on their normal activities if they would like to, go see family, participate in the faith activities and really have a great Easter, because we are not at a position where we are running out of fuel as a country. We are in a position where we've seen big increases in demand which has led to some distribution challenges across the country.

EMMA REBELLATO: Overnight, US President Donald Trump put out a social media post, lots of expletives in it, threatening even more strikes on Iran if they don't open the Strait of Hormuz. What's your reaction to his threats and also the way he did it? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, we want to see this war come to an end.

We want to see clear objectives for the United States and we want to see clarity as to when those objectives might be met from the United States. We want to see Iran stop bombing ships in the Strait of Hormuz. The sooner this war ends, it's in the best interest of everyone.

Australians did not start this war, we're not participating in it, but like every other country, we are paying an economic price, and there will be tailwinds. There will be tail impacts on this for weeks to come, if not months. But I know this – the sooner it ends, the sooner those tailwinds will be through as well.

EMMA REBELLATO: You must be a bit surprised by some of the language he used, though. He's a president. CHRIS BOWEN: Well, we've been seeing that sort of language for quite a while now.

Best part of 10 years. So, no, I'm not particularly surprised. But I focus on the substance of the matter.

The substance of the matter is we want to see this war come to an end. EMMA REBELLATO: Energy Minister Chris Bowen, thank you very much for joining us this morning. We appreciate it.

CHRIS BOWEN: Great to chat. Good on you. 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.