Press conference, Sydney
MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY, CHRIS BOWEN: I'm here today to give you my regular updates on the fuel situation. I'm pleased to say that the number of service stations without diesel and fuel continues to come down and again, as I've said before, including in my daily updates over Easter, thank you to all the workers who've been working so hard, the truckies, the refinery workers, the servo workers, who've been working so hard to get fuel to where it's needed, particularly in regional Australia.
In New South Wales today we have 124 service stations without diesel, that's down one on yesterday, that's 5% of New South Wales service stations, 27 with no fuel at all, that's down 7 on yesterday. Victoria, 40 with no diesel and 28 with no unleaded petrol, that's around 2% of Victorian service stations for both. With Queensland, 30 with no diesel, 25 with no regular unleaded.
South Australia, 4 with no diesel and 2 without unleaded, they're both down as well. Western Australia, 8 with no diesel, that's down 12 on yesterday's update and 21 with no unleaded. Tasmania, 7 and 5, Northern Territory, 4 and 4, ACT, 4 with no diesel, none, zero with no unleaded.
That's a total of 221 without diesel across Australia out of the 7,940 service stations, that's pretty close to 3% of service stations without diesel. More work to do, as I've consistently said, until we get that number down to zero but we are continuing to deal with very high demand for diesel in particular, other fuels as well, but particularly diesel, a very high demand and the supply chain in regional New South Wales in particular has been stretched as it's sowing and seeding season in New South Wales and we have, with the industry, been prioritising getting diesel to farmers so they can get their crops into the ground but nevertheless, good progress, more work to do to ensure that that fuel continues to flow where it's needed.
Internationally, the situation remains with the update that I provided on Saturday with 39 days' worth of petrol and Australians would have noticed that that figure has remained pretty static. 39 days, that's up a bit on when this international crisis started, 30 days roughly for diesel and jet fuel which is pretty static. Australians can be reassured, I think, that that means that petrol and diesel is going out the door at a rapid rate but also coming in the door.
I've been in constant contact with the fuel companies, I can confirm there continues to be no cancellations of expected deliveries into Australia and they now have secure contracted supply well into May and I'll continue to provide those updates. Internationally, of course, the Prime Minister spoke to the Premier of China, he's off to Singapore tomorrow, I spoke to my Malaysian counterpart yesterday, we continue to engage very strongly with our international counterparts, particularly in South East Asia, and we've been very pleased that our counterparts have recognised their role in being a reliable energy supplier to Australia when it comes to liquid fuels, just as they recognise our role and our history as a reliable supplier of other types of energy.
Happy to take questions. JOURNALIST: Labor’s draft national policy platform doesn’t mention the 82% renewables target by 2030 at all, why is that? The platform is a high-level document.
I note that the Labor Party is the only party which goes through the process of bothering to have a platform, others don't bother, that's a matter for them. We have a platform which is a high-level statement of principles. It does say Labor will implement Australia's net zero plan and six sectoral decarbonisation plans, they include the 82%, but more importantly, let me make it crystal clear, 82% is government policy, has been government policy, is government policy, remains government policy, is the position of the government.
JOURNALIST: Not including it in the policy platform though, is that a concession that this target may be… No, not at all, absolutely not. It's a recognition that a platform is a broad statement of principles, there's plenty of things, I've pointed you to one, I could point you to Labor will continue to drive the record uptake of renewables, including household solar and batteries, that's another part of the platform.
JOURNALIST: [interrupts] Hang on, hang on, I'm answering Lachlan's question. JOURNALIST: [interrupts] No, no, excuse me, excuse me, I'm answering this question, I haven't come to you yet. Labor will lead the world in renewable energy generation, so it's all through the platform, the platform's a high-level document.
I'm going here first, I'm going here first, a bit of respect for the colleagues, thanks. JOURNALIST: Can you provide more information about what future deals are looking like with Singapore and Malaysia and Japan, and also how important are the upcoming trips by the Prime Minister and Richard Marles in securing extra and ongoing supply? Well, look, they're important, obviously, but they build on what the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister and I have already been doing, you know, the Prime Minister had a telephone call with Prime Minister Wong, I think now two weeks ago, where there was a strong statement issued.
Obviously, there'll be further statements issued, it's just cementing that, so you should expect, obviously, updates from the Prime Minister in Singapore, but it builds on the work that he's already done. Liam? JOURNALIST: Minister, if this war in Iran has shown us nothing else, hasn't it proved once and for all that your obsession with renewables will only lead us down the track to another energy crisis?
That's a pretty loaded, that's a comment, not a question. JOURNALIST: No, it's a question. Well, it's a very loaded, it's a very loaded comment.
What it shows is that we need to continue to work on energy security. I make this point, and I reject the premise of your question. JOURNALIST: [interrupts] It's an open question.
No, no, I reject it. JOURNALIST: It's not a trick question. Sorry, are you asking a question or are you having a debate?
JOURNALIST: I'd love an answer. Yes, certainly. Energy must be secure.
Renewable energy is a secure form of energy. The Australian sun cannot be interrupted by a war or anything else. The solar energy has to travel 150 million kilometres from the sun.
It doesn't have to travel the 150 kilometres of the Strait of Hormuz. While we're building that secure renewable energy, obviously we continue to ensure that our most immediate task is energy security, including all the work the government has been doing, working closely with industry… JOURNALIST: [interrupts] to ensure the most secure supply for Australians.
That's what we've been doing. That's why I've been providing updates every day to the Australian people in press conferences, and that's why I'm able to say not a single ship that has been expected to arrive in Australia has been interrupted. Go behind you.
JOURNALIST: You're playing catch up. I'm going behind you. You've had a question.
Could you have a little bit more respect for your colleagues? JOURNALIST: During this crisis, do you put the flag up and say, listen, I'll resign? There's a journalist behind you who has a question.
I'm going to go to her. JOURNALIST: Look, I've been trying to ask you questions since the 24th of January, open and honest questions about your renewables obsession, and your office has continually, 13 emails, Minister, continuously rejected our approach. Now, why can't you sit down and answer open, honest questions?
I've held a press conference every day. This is the first press conference you've been to, to ask me a question. I've taken one question.
I'm going to go to the journalist behind me. JOURNALIST: You've taken one question. That's very brave.
I'll come back. JOURNALIST: That's very brave. I think you need to show a bit more respect to your colleagues.
This is a full room of journalists. Everyone gets one question. JOURNALIST: Well, I think everyone here would like to know the answers, actually.
I think everyone here would like to ask their own questions. Behind you. JOURNALIST: Minister, would you heed the Crisafulli government’s calls to fast track the oil exploration in Taroom?
Sure. Look, we believe these questions should be resolved on economics and engineering. If there's a proposal, we're more than happy to work it through.
It's got to stack up economically, obviously. It'll need to go through the environmental approvals process. Minister Watt is more than happy to receive a request from the Queensland Government.
There are things that can be done with the Queensland Government and the Commonwealth Government working together on a bilateral agreement to fast-track approvals. To the best of my knowledge, no such request has been received by Minister Watt. He'd be very happy to work that through with the Queensland Government if they put a request in.
When governments want to get things done, you sit down, you work it through. JOURNALIST: Just on that, are you open to a rethink of policy given the climate that we are in… No, we're very pleased with the EPBC reforms that were passed last year. They will see faster approvals across the board.
It doesn't allow a national interest exemption for fossil fuels, but it does allow other sensible things to be put in place. JOURNALIST: Are you open to changing that... It doesn't need to be changed.
No, no, it was a very carefully calibrated reform. We're very pleased. Congratulations to Minister Watt for getting it through the parliament.
That's a great thing and it does give him flexibility. And if the Queensland Government wants to pursue that, they can take that up with him. JOURNALIST: The Albanese government has said it won’t provide a running commentary on Donald Trump, but how does his threat overnight to destroy an entire civilisation not warrant clear condemnation?
You might have missed the Prime Minister's interview just a few moments ago where he said that statement was inappropriate. JOURNALIST: And given the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz now, will your government rethink any of your policies around fuel, in particular the cut to the fuel excise? No, and let's not get ahead of ourselves.
We welcome progress, but I don't think we can say the Straits of Hormuz are now open. There's more work to be done. We'll keep the work that we have been doing.
It's good work. You know, the Prime Minister will go to Singapore and cement that work. You know, I'm on the phone to fuel companies every day.
EFA is doing good work. That's appropriate. As I said, not a single ship that's been expected to arrive in Australia has not arrived.
That doesn't mean, as I've said all the way through, that there isn't risks in the supply chain. Obviously, the sooner the Straits of Hormuz open, the better for everyone, the world, including us. Just here.
JOURNALIST: Do you expect the ceasefire to hold? Well, let’s see, let's see. JOURNALIST: Is that your expectation that it will hold?
Well, we are not central players in this dispute. We've made that very clear. We've made our request to the United States very clear.
We'll continue to monitor the situation. JOURNALIST: How are you going to use this period to build our reserve and do you have a target of where you’d like to get to, comparable to where we were at, at the start of the war? Well, we are pretty close to where we were at the start of the war.
In fact, we're a bit higher on petrol reserves. I think it was 36 days. It's now 39.
I think that's right, where we were compared to where we are now. Diesel and jet fuel are about the same. That, as I said, means the fuel's going out the door at rapid rates.
I mean, massive increases in demand, particularly for diesel, but the fuel's been coming in to replace it as well. We'll continue to work, as you know, I released 20 per cent of the minimum stock obligation. That was not a small thing.
It was a big call, but the right call. Back here. JOURNALIST: Minister, how can you say that we're not a central player in this war when we are one of, if not the only nation that has supported Israel and the US through sending arms and troops on the ground while at the same time saying you're calling for de-escalation?
Sorry, we have... JOURNALIST: How can you bridge that gap? JOURNALIST: You're not a central player, but at the same time you're saying...
Sorry, with the greatest of respect, we have not sent troops on the ground. What we have done is send an E7 aeroplane to support our friends and allies in the UAE for purely defensive purposes. JOURNALIST: That's still being...
That's passing. That's semantics at this point. Defensively from Australia to the UAE is thousands of kilometres.
With the greatest respect, I don't think it is semantics. We've sent an E7 aeroplane, which can only be used for defensive purposes, to the UAE. There are 27,000 last time I saw Australians in UAE, defending UAE against drone attacks is very much in our national interest, also in keeping with our values.
The UAE is a good friend of Australia. It's only for defensive purposes. We are involved in no offensive operations, and neither will we be.
JOURNALIST: But troops on the ground, the reports from the Daily Telegraph show that there were elite troops over there in the Gulf... Sorry, if you're talking about that, as we've made very clear, no government minister will comment on the locations of SAS troops at any particular time for reasons I hope you understand. It's highly classified information as to where SAS troops are, but I can tell you no Australian troop, plural or singular, is involved in any offensive operations in the Middle East, anywhere.
JOURNALIST: If oil prices return to where they were before this war broke out, will the government reconsider the three-month cut to the fuel excise? Look, we've said three months. Obviously, we will assess the situation close to the end of that three months.
We hope things have improved by then… JOURNALIST: [interrupts] Hang on, I'm answering a question here. I'll come to you in a second. We hope things improve by then, but we'll assess...
JOURNALIST: Sorry, but if things have improved by the three months, will you consider reducing that three months? No, that's not on our agenda. I think we've told the Australian people it'll be three months and that'll be our intention.
JOURNALIST: Just to clear up that expectation, what are you expecting to happen with petrol and diesel prices? Obviously, oil prices are up right now, but wholesale prices, for example, have jumped 20 cents a litre this morning. Internationally, they're very high.
Diesel prices are very high internationally, absolutely. They are moving around. The prices are a bit volatile at the moment for reasons I guess we understand because markets respond to public statements by world leaders, et cetera.
But the ultimate way we can see energy prices come down, I mean fuel energy, petrol and diesel prices come down, is this war coming to an end. JOURNALIST: Australians want to see prices come down, are prices going to fall? Are you expecting prices to fall?
We've been very clear. The biggest impact on Australian fuel prices is the international price of oil, and that is very high. I'm going here first.
Sorry, this gentleman hasn't had a question. JOURNALIST: Sorry, I thought you just said you were coming back to me? I will come back to you, but this gentleman hasn't had a question.
JOURNALIST: [interrupts] You don’t want another question, do you? I will give you another question, but if you could show a bit of respect. This journalist here has been waiting and he hasn't had a question yet.
Yes, sir. JOURNALIST: Minister, Resources Minister, Minister Madeliene King, is considering export restrictions on gas to mitigate a shortfall [inaudible] … how did we end up in this position given Australia is one of the world’s largest producers of gas? What Minister Madeleine King has done is flag a potential trigger of the ADGSM if the very small shortfall that's predicted or forecast by the ACCC eventuates.
She's hopeful not to need to do that. I'm hopeful she won't need to do that, and she'll have ongoing conversations with the gas companies about filling that relatively small shortfall. More importantly, though, in the longer term your question is essentially well-based because we do need to ensure that Australian gas is available for Australian users as a first priority.
That's why Minister Madeleine King and I released in December our policy of a gas reservation. We're now consulting on the finer details. We said we'd have a reservation between 15 and 25 per cent and there's some finer details to consult with, we've been doing that.
I think we had 53 submissions to our consultation process. We've been working through those and we're at the final stage of getting close to advanced stages of consideration of those and we'll have more to say. Liam?
JOURNALIST: How have we ended up in this position… Well, we've been in a position for a long time where we've been a big gas exporter and now we are acting appropriately. Some of those foundational contracts come off between now and 2030. That's a good time to put a gas reservation policy into place.
Liam? JOURNALIST: So let me get this right. Your renewables transition policy, will not alter one iota despite what this war has shown us with the failure of your energy policy?
I'm not sure how you could assert, Liam, that the war in Iran is the fault of Australian renewable energy. I really don't understand that logic. JOURNALIST: Hasn’t it shown us that fuel actually matters and runs the country?
As everyone has always acknowledged. If you're suggesting that somehow renewable energy policy has led to an interruption to the supply of oil from the Middle East, I'm just going to respectfully disagree with you. JOURNALIST: [inaudible] Your focus has been wholly and solely on spending billions of dollars we haven’t got on questionable green infrastructure, tying us to China, not worrying about where the minerals come from.
Why is renewable energy questionable then? JOURNALIST: You're totally hypocritical on this. Okay, that's a comment, not a question.
JOURNALIST: Why don't you sit down? I'm holding a press conference… JOURNALIST: Why don't you sit down and answer questions? What are you scared of?
I hold a press conference every day. This is the first time you've turned up. JOURNALIST: No, for a formal interview, instead of you being able to deflect to my colleagues, what are you afraid of?
Talking about your policy... I don't think taking questions from a wide diversity of journalists... What have we got, you know, 15 in the room, is not being available.
I've been holding a press conference every day over Easter. JOURNALIST: [interrupts] Because you are hiding behind petrol rationing, you’re playing catch up, Minister… You've chosen to come to this one, good on you, that's your perfect right. JOURNALIST: Well, I’ve had to come because I’ve had to chase you down because your office won’t front up… You've come to a press conference, congratulations.
Other journalists have been at every press conference I've held. I went here first and then I'll go here. I'll come to you in a moment.
JOURNALIST: Very immediately Australians are concerned about petrol prices. The sense I'm getting says that the ceasefire shouldn't give them too much excitement about prices. Can you just take this moment to clarify, to explain to Australians, are you expecting prices to start falling?
Are they going to keep rising? Obviously, we hope a ceasefire takes hold and becomes the permanent arrangement, obviously and the sooner that happens, the better it'll be for fuel prices around the world. If you're asking me to, you know, say with a great deal of certainty to predict events in the Middle East in coming days and weeks, I'm not going to do that because it's a fast-moving situation.
I'll come to you in a second, and Australia is not a central player in this dispute, as we've never claimed to be. We weren't consulted about beginning the operation. We are monitoring closely, the National Security Committee of the Cabinet, of which I'm a member of, is meeting most days for updates.
But really, let's see what happens. We've seen the progress this morning. I think you'd call it progress.
That's a good thing, but there's a long way to go. JOURNALIST: Do you have an estimate of when petrol prices will come down given that the ceasefire… I estimate that fuel prices will come down when this war ends. JOURNALIST: Minister, Matt Canavan wants net zero in carbon tariffs scrapped and instead says key industries should be protected by imposing permanent anti-dumping tariffs on overseas goods.
Is net zero bad for our economy, as Canavan claims, and does the government need to consider permanent tariffs on products… [inaudible] It's no revelation that Mr Canavan has that view. To be fair to him, he's been consistently opposed to Net Zero for his entire period, although he was a member of the Government, the Morrison Government, which adopted a Net Zero policy and released modelling showing every Australian being $2,000 better off as a result of that policy.
Good modelling, modelling of the Government Mr Canavan was a member of. Mr Canavan and I disagree about that. Net Zero and climate action is unquestionably in Australia's economic best interests as a country that can have the best renewables in the world.
And as I said before in relation to another question, it's also low emissions, it's the cheapest form of energy, and it's also secure, because there's no... JOURNALIST: [interrupts] energy prices are going through the roof, how can you stand there and say… You're just interrupting another journalist’s question. It's also a very secure form of energy.
We need to build the storage, which we're doing. Australia is absolutely blitzing it when it comes to storing renewable energy. More batteries added to our grid as a percentage of the grid than any other country in the world.
That's a good thing. JOURNALIST: On China Export Finance Australia's deals, can you give us an update on the progress? Very well advanced, we'll have more to say shortly.
JOURNALIST: Minister, can you explain, the message coming from the Government is that we're continuing to receive supply, shipments haven't been cancelled, but when you talk to farmers, fishing trawlers for example, they say, you know, I used to get 20,000 litres, now I can only get three. You've got this information from the fuel companies, but can you explain why those key sectors aren't getting the diesel they need if we do have the supply coming in?
Because we're still dealing with very high demand for diesel in particular, and because the contractual market has been working at what we call bulk allocation, and I don’t want to get too nerdy, but it means that basically people have been taking, as they're legally entitled to, 100% of their contractual right, which has meant the spot market, which is more day to day transactions, which predominates in regional Australia, hasn't been working as well.
That's just, and the companies are legally obliged to meet their contracts to people who have contracted diesel in particular in advance. I've always recognised that that has meant some real challenges in regional Australia, including I've been talking to fishing companies and tourist operators and others, you're 100% right in what you identify, but I am pleased with the progress we're making because as the fuel's getting out to regional Australia, you're seeing more and more of those contracts or that spot market being filled.
JOURNALIST: [inaudible] how long do you expect the updates from you to continue? Oh, as long as it takes. JOURNALIST: As long as the war is going on?
Well, as long as the, you know, as I said, I've held a press conference every day. You know, I don't intend to do that for the next three years. I'll do it for as long as it takes.
JOURNALIST: But the demand for diesel has actually continued to increase in the last couple of weeks? Yeah, demand for fuel across the board, including diesel, was 30% higher this Easter than last Easter, for example. JOURNALIST: You said there's improvements in the supply chain bottlenecks for fuel and diesel to regional areas.
When do you expect those bottlenecks to be resolved? Well, I think we're making progress resolving them every day. You know, these service station numbers are coming down every day.
That's a good thing. There's more work to do, but it's a good thing. JOURNALIST: Minister, has this conflict changed your perspective of a need for oil exploration in Australia?
No, I've always said that should be handled on engineering and economics, not ideology. This is not a culture war. You know, if there can be oil extracted in Australia to replace the imports, great.
But as I pointed out on other occasions, Minister Canavan, when he was a minister, issued licences for oil in the Great Australian Bight, for example. Fair enough, good on him, had a go. They were handed back by the companies because it's too geologically challenging, too deep, too complicated, and that makes it expensive.
JOURNALIST: Is there anything that you will change in terms of government policy… No, look, as I said, there's a process to go through. If someone wants to extract oil in Australia, they can apply for environmental approvals. They can, Minister King, Minister Madeleine King, issues exploration licences from time to time.
She's continued to do that. This should be handled on economics and engineering, not ideology. JOURNALIST: But that's not true.
That's plainly not true. Why would you say that? That is a lie.
JOURNALIST: From Amex-owned figures, those exploration permits are taking sometimes over 11 years just to get hydrocarbon projects up and running. It does take... JOURNALIST: Just over two years for a renewable project.
It does take time for a project to reach final investment decision. JOURNALIST: Just over two years for a renewable project. So how do you combine the two?
I think if you look at wind farm approvals, they take a lot longer than that. JOURNALIST: Diesel wholesale prices are 20 cents just today; one day increase we've seen so far. Is this just the new normal, prices jumping up like this day to day?
There'll be volatility while this war goes on. Yes. JOURNALIST: At that level?
There'll be continued volatility. I mean, by definition volatility means it's going to move around a lot. JOURNALIST: Minister, over the weekend, the National Reconstruction Fund had an additional priority area added to it to focus on economic security and resilience.
Should we be expecting that fund to now be be supporting things like fuel refineries or other oil and gas... No, look, the National Reconstruction Fund works with the other government agencies including Export Finance Australia, Clean Energy Finance Corporation. They have regular meetings where they compare notes about who's doing what and I would expect the NRF to lean in and help with projects of national significance.
Might leave it there. Thanks guys. Thank you very much.
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