Press conference, Sydney, NSW

CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Thanks for coming everyone. Today I’m delivering the weekly update on the amount of fuel that we have in Australia and on the way. I’m pleased to say that we currently have 42 days’ worth of petrol, which is one day less than last week.

We have 35 days’ worth of diesel, which is two days more than last week. In fact, that 35 days is the second highest amount of diesel we’ve had in Australia since the minimum stockholding obligation began in 2023. That’s a good thing, and that’s a result of government and industry working so closely together to ensure that diesel supplies remain strong in this very difficult international environment.

We have 29 days’ worth of jet fuel, which is also one day more than last week’s report. Again, that’s very important for Australians’ ability to get around our country and to get around the world. We have 55 ships on the water, on the way to Australia, with various types of fuel.

That’s one ship less than last week, but entirely in keeping with the sorts of numbers that we’ve been seeing since this international situation began, and in keeping with broader trends. And we have 4.5 billion litres worth of fuel locked in to be delivered over the next four weeks. That’s half a billion litres more than my report last week.

Again, that’s a good thing. It shows that fuel is continuing to arrive in Australia as expected, and in keeping with the normal sorts of deliveries we would have at this time of year, not impacted by crisis. We have 2.3 billion litres worth of diesel contracted to be delivered over the next four weeks, 783 million litres of petrol, 450 million litres of jet fuel, and 940 million litres of oil.

That’s what makes up that roughly 4.5 billion litres of fuel. That’s all contracted, locked in to be delivered over the next month. So Australians, I think, can again take confidence from these figures.

They show that the steps that the Government has put in place, and the industry working so hard to diversify our supply chain, getting fuel from countries from which we normally wouldn’t get it, to add to the fuel that the Prime Minister has been working on with South East Asian partners to ensure reliability of supply from them, is able to ensure that Australia is as well placed as we could be during this international turbulence.

Of course, during the week, the Prime Minister and I announced changes in the longer-term minimum stockholding obligation to better prepare us for future shocks and prices, including, importantly, for the first time in Australia, a government-owned domestic reserve. Having a Federal Government strategic reserve, in addition to the private holdings, about 22 out of the 44 or so members of the International Energy Agency have government-owned domestic holdings.

Australia hasn’t been one of them until this point. The Albanese Government is fixing that so that we are better placed for future international crises. And we’ll continue to see Australia through this particular international crisis, and better prepare Australia for future crises through the Albanese Government.

I think we only have questions on the phone today, so over to the telephone. JOURNALIST: Thank you, Minister. Stephanie from the ABC.

This week, the Government announced the $10 billion fuel security package. Has the Government done any modelling on how much this amount could cost motorists at the bowser? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, the $10 billion is, of course, the total cost of government investment.

What we’ve seen is that we’ve worked closely with industry to ensure that the policy that we’ve brought in is sensibly calibrated. We do not anticipate any sizeable or meaningful impact on petrol prices, because we’ll work with industry to build the necessary storage. And, of course, a big part of the announcement was a Federal Government-owned reserve, which won’t have any impact on petrol prices at all.

JOURNALIST: Thank you. Just turning to next week’s Budget, the Treasurer has confirmed changes to the permanent migration points test for skilled visas. Practically, what do those changes actually mean for Australia?

CHRIS BOWEN: The points test gets reviewed every few years to make sure it’s fit for purpose. That’s standard and good policy. I’ll leave the Minister for Home Affairs and the Treasurer to make further comments on the details.

But as a former Immigration Minister, I can tell you the points test does change over time to make sure that our population and immigration settings are fit for purpose for a particular time. JOURNALIST: Thank you. And just staying on the Budget, could you run us through the benefits of speeding up the process for migrants seeking to have their overseas qualifications recognised?

CHRIS BOWEN: We do have a large base of skills in Australia from migration, but it can sometimes be, and I’ve seen this as a local member, something I’ve had to deal with over many years, that people who have good qualifications from overseas can struggle to get them recognised in Australia. Now, it’s appropriate that we have, of course, rigorous testing and standards, because not every overseas qualification could or should be recognised in Australia.

But many can be. And it’s in everyone’s best interest that that happens as quickly and as expeditiously as possible for the migrant, but also for the community, because there’s a whole lot of skills there which can be put to work and used for the community. So again, these are sensible changes.

I’ll leave the details to the Home Affairs Minister and his team to talk about in more detail. But I think most Australians would accept that it’s reasonable and sensible, if we have skills in Australia, that if those skills are comparable to skills that would have been obtained in Australia and can be put to use for the benefit of the Australian economy, they should be as soon as possible.

JOURNALIST: The Treasurer also says that there’ll be a big productivity push, and that’s one of the most important parts of next week’s Budget. One of those, for example, is making the instant asset write-off for small businesses permanent. The whole red tape issue, we hear about time and time again.

I suppose what’s the promise during this Budget that genuine change is underway? CHRIS BOWEN: This will be a reforming Budget, and productivity will be at the heart of that reform. Because we want to grow the Australian economy.

We want to make wages higher. We want more investment, and that requires productivity growth. Government can set the scene for productivity growth with reform.

We can reduce the cost of compliance, the cost of doing business, by around $10 billion a year for business. We can grow the economy. We can get more investment going.

That is what productivity is all about. Around the world, governments are tackling productivity, because productivity is down around the world. The Australian Government is right at the forefront of that, with a very ambitious Budget that the Treasurer will bring down on Tuesday, which will have productivity at its core.

JOURNALIST: We heard that three women with links to the Islamic State group have now been charged by law enforcement agencies. What reassurances can you provide to the public that, with the return of these women and children, their safety remains paramount? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I think you see in the response of the Government and the response of the Australian Federal Police during this week, on Thursday and Friday, the full force of the law applying, as it should.

And I think the Prime Minister would have summed up the views of most Australians. No sympathy for people who’ve gone to the Middle East to work with ISIS. Sympathy for children, but no sympathy for adults who made a decision to go and participate in one of the most evil regimes in the history of the world.

And they should be dealt with by the full force of Australian law, and they have been. And I think that’s what Australians can get reassurance from. JOURNALIST: And just finally, do you have any information about another man that was arrested at the airport on Thursday who helped some of the members travel back to Australia?

CHRIS BOWEN: JOURNALIST: Thank you for your time. 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.