Press conference, Fairfield West

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks for coming, everyone. A lot of people have been working very hard over Easter to ensure fuel supply across the board to Australian service stations. I want to again give a shout out to the refinery workers, the truckies, service station workers who’ve been working over Easter, because it’s an important time of family and faith, and we want Australians to go about their business.

I am pleased to say that the number of service stations over Easter without diesel and petrol fell, which is quite something, given so many people were moving around and needing fuel and diesel. So the number of service stations across Australia, the latest figures today without diesel has fallen to 3.4 per cent of Australia's service stations. In New South Wales, we now have 142 without diesel out of the 2400, which is down three on yesterday's figures; 39 with no fuel.

Fifty-one in Victoria with no diesel, 30 with no unleaded, that's out of 1,700 service stations. Queensland, 38 with no diesel and 32 with no unleaded. South Australia, nine without diesel and five with no unleaded.

Western Australia, 19 without diesel and 29 with no unleaded. Tasmania, seven and seven. Northern Territory, four and four.

ACT, four without diesel, two without unleaded – which as I said, leads us to 3.4 per cent of Australia's service stations with no diesel at the moment. We've got more work to do to get that down to zero. But in New South Wales in particular, where we've been focusing with the industry on getting fuel to farmers because it's sowing and seeding season, so therefore our service station numbers out of diesel have been higher than anyone would like.

Because I think, rightly, people have been prioritising getting diesel to our farmers to make sure they can get the seeds into the ground. So again, a lot of hard work being done over the Easter break by the fuel companies, by the servo workers. Not everyone was able to have a day off, and thank you to all those workers who work so hard.

More work to do. But of course, the Government will keep working with industry to ensure the security of fuel supply across the board as best we can in these difficult international circumstances. The Prime Minister's been, of course, talking to his counterparts.

I've been talking to mine. Foreign Minister Wong has been talking to hers. And we've been very pleased with the response we've had from our Southeast Asian partners in particular, who recognise their role as reliable energy suppliers for Australia when it comes to our liquid fuels.

And those conversations, of course, particularly between the Prime Minister and his counterparts, will continue over the course of this week. We continue to see no ships cancelled that have been contracted for Australia, extra orders being delivered, and we now have security of supply through April and now into May. But as we've indicated on multiple occasions, we recognise that it's a difficult international environment and there are risks to supply chains as long as the Strait of Hormuz remains closed.

That's why it's important everyone works together as best as possible in this most contested period to see those straits open as quickly as possible so the economic impact on Australia and the rest of the world can be minimised. It's here, it will be here for a period of time, but obviously we want to see it return to more normal transmission as quickly as possible.

Happy to take questions. Lachlan first, then I'll go here. JOURNALIST: The construction industry, we've already heard about lack of plastics, the impact that's had on PVC piping.

Now more concerns that the fuel shock will have a wider impact on the supply chain for construction materials. Are you concerned that this is another barrier to hitting Federal Government housing targets, and do we need to revise those targets down? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, it doesn't help, of course, any shock to any international supply chain.

When we passed the legislation last week to allow Export Finance Australia to support imports, we made it about fuel. We also said any other good suffering supply chain, and in the instructions from Minister Don Farrell and myself to EFA, we have highlighted fertiliser off the bat, and EFA has been in discussions with fertiliser companies about imports. We'll give further updates on that as that evolves.

But we also said other goods which are suffering supply chain disruptions, and it's certainly something that the government will continue to look at. Whether we need to give extra support to PVC imports, for example, because you're fundamentally- the fundamental point you're making is correct in that PVC piping has to go into the house or the construction early - you can't build the rest of the house and come back and put the PVC piping in.

So we are alive to that challenge and working closely with the industry. Yeah? : Minister, Matt Thistlethwaite told Sky News yesterday that Japan, South Korea and Malaysia have given assurances over the incoming fuel supply. However, the closure of the Strait to date will have a significant impact on the Asian refineries’ capacity to get crude oil.

So when will that start impacting supply? CHRIS BOWEN: Of course Matt is right. The governments have been very clear with Australia that they recognise their role as reliable energy suppliers.

It's also the case, though, that those refineries will come under pressure as oil imports through the Strait of Hormuz are necessary to make fuel. The important thing is that they have indicated that they have no intention of banning exports. They will work with their suppliers and with their partners like us - not just us, but like us - to make that fuel supply as reliable as it can be.

They're also diversifying supply of oil. So they're getting oil from other sources, like the United States, Mexico, other places, which is good. So this requires careful management between governments and industry, and that's exactly what we're doing. : When you talk about supply, how far into May are you confident that those supplies will last?

And then, obviously past May, is there any concern? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, every day that goes past, with more orders being made and more fuel being delivered, that takes the confirmed order book forward, and that's a good thing. And we're now a bit into April and we have secured contracted, legally binding supply well into May now.

But, you know, as I've always said, we're not going to overpromise in terms of months ahead. There will be challenges and concerns which we'll just continue to work through. JOURNALIST: Just when it comes to jet fuel, on Saturday you said we had 30 days of supply.

This morning you said 29. Are our reserves of jet fuel falling? CHRIS BOWEN: No, they're pretty static, pretty static.

And between 29 and 30 days can be just a very small amount of fuel. The fuel's coming in and the fuel's going out, and that's pretty standard. : If this shock continues for longer than expected, how long will it take for a country like to Australia to fast-track it’s Newcastle coal to oil projects? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, any new project takes a lot of time, a lot of time - from conception to final investment decision, and environmental planning is just part of it, you've got the entire investment decision.

So you are talking years for these sorts of things, and I think that's important. I've always said these decisions should be based on economics and engineering, not an ideology. That's my approach.

That's the Government's approach. Obviously, if there's Australian oil production, you talk about coal and gas, but oil production which can replace imports, I don't think any sensible person would have a problem with that. But it's got to go through all the processes.

And Mr Canavan tried - I'm not having a go at him - he tried when he was Resources Minister to get oil drilling in the Great Australian Bight. It didn't work. It's not his fault.

He had a go, fair enough, but economics and engineering determined it didn't work, that ideology, pretty clearly. : [Indistinct]… through social this morning, I know you’ve spoken about it a bit. But are you at all concerned that if you follow this through, on these threats, that having an impact on stability of fuel prices? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, we want to see this situation at least resolved.

That's on all the parties to resolve it, all the parties. And we consistently have called on parties to resolve it and move forward. Australia wasn't consulted about the decision to start this international conflict, nor are we directly involved apart from supporting our friends in UAE on defensive measures only – that is appropriate.

The sooner this ends, the better. The Prime Minister's made clear we'd like to see more clarity on US objectives and how they are seeing those objectives being met, so that we can return to a more normal economy as quickly as possible. JOURNALIST: Minister, just on the targets again, sorry.

Some estimates have us tracking about 200,000 below the yearly benchmark we need to be at. Given the- CHRIS BOWEN: Sorry, for what? JOURNALIST: Homes are built against the Housing Accords.

Given the supply shock we talked about earlier now, the impact that's going to have on supply chains, is there any case for revising that target down? CHRIS BOWEN: I'll leave the Minister for Housing to provide further comments. JOURNALIST: Minister, over the weekend there were reports that the Japanese PM might be coming to Australia and that the PM will also maybe be going to Malaysia and Singapore.

Can you confirm these reports? CHRIS BOWEN: It's not my place to confirm Prime Ministerial movements either of Australia or Japan. The Prime Minister makes those announcements.

JOURNALIST: There's a trend on TikTok at the moment of regional Australians talking about using chip shop oil or biofuel oil in place of diesel. Is that a good idea, do you reckon? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I wouldn't recommend people make their own arrangements for their cars.

I think you should only put in what your car manufacturer recommends. More broadly, a serious point, biodiesel's got a great future, in my opinion. That's why the Treasurer, Catherine King, and I announced last year $1.1 billion to support the development of Australian biofuels, which are not only lower emissions but can create a lot of economic activity for Australia's farmers.

I mean, one thing we can do is create a lot of feedstock, do we are very bullish on Australia's biofuel future. I just wouldn't be rushing to put anything that's not recommended by a car manufacturer into your car right now. JOURNALIST: Just on the ACCC, have there been any realised cases of price gouging since their [indistinct]… CHRIS BOWEN: I’ll leave the ACCC to- they're an independent, in effect, a law enforcement agency.

I don't make announcements on their behalf. JOURNALIST: We've seen the number of petrol stations across Australia without fuel slowly dropping. Are you confident that trend will continue?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, certainly, there's plenty of people working on that, and hopefully we're seeing some of the demand plateau. When demand is 100 per cent of what it normally is, as I've said before, any supply chain will struggle – that’s diesel, petrol, toilet paper, flour, a supply chain won't keep up with that extra demand. That's why we've been saying to people, please, do what you would normally do at Easter by all means.

Absolutely. Go visit your family, participate in your faith. Absolutely.

Go to the beach if that's what you'd like to do. But get as much fuel as you need. No more, no less.

I think a lot of people have been doing that, and a lot of people have been working very hard to get that fuel to the service stations where it's needed. JOURNALIST: You were saying earlier this morning that there's a 30 per cent increase in demand from this time last year. Do you think that could potentially be a case of people making hay while the sun shines?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, there's going to be a range of factors. Yes, I said on the weekend that the fuel companies have advised me that demand this Easter has been 30 per cent higher than Easter before. That's the case.

That's what the statistics show us. Now, there'll be a range of reasons for that. Some people predicting what might happen on prices perhaps, other people making their own decisions.

All I can do is give the same advice consistently, please buy as much fuel as you need - absolutely no problem with that - but don't buy more than you need. If you're storing fuel at home, that's really dangerous. It's not recommended and it doesn't help the situation.

It makes the situation worse for all of us. JOURNALIST: Minister, do you happen to own, or your family own, an EV or a petrol vehicle? CHRIS BOWEN: We've got a combination, yeah.

We've got both. JOURNALIST: Minister, sorry, reports in [indistinct] this morning that there could be changes to the NDIS in the Budget. I suppose, what would it mean for participants if we don't get NDIS spending under control?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, the NDIS is a great Labor achievement, of course, for the Gillard Government. We're very proud of it. It needs to be made sustainable.

Minister Mark Butler has been doing a great job getting the growth in spending down from an unsustainable rate to a more sustainable rate. But he's also been clear there's more to do with the states. That work is continuing, and no doubt there'll be budget updates in due course.

JOURNALIST: Obviously, there's been a big uptick in interest purchases of electric vehicles. Is it time for the Government to implement an EV road user charge? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, we've made very clear that that's a conversation we'll continue to have.

Obviously in due course, that's a serious and important conversation, but we'll make further statements about that that in due course. Also to pre-empt another question, it's no secret the Treasurer and I have been reviewing the support for EV take-up as was statutorily required, and we'll have more to say in due course. 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.