Press conference, Sydney, New South Wales

CHRIS BOWEN: Thanks for coming, everyone. I’m very please today to give the weekly Saturday petrol update. First thing, we have 43 days worth petrol on hand, which is down one day on last weeks update but five days more than when the Iran crisis began.

We have 38 days worth of diesel, that is up two day on last weeks update and up six days on when the Iran conflict began. And that 38 days is actually the highest holding that Australia has held since the minimum stock obligation began in 2023. That’s really encouraging.

That is Government and industry working together in the midst of an international fuel crisis to see a record amount of diesel in our country, so I'm really pleased with that. We also had 31 days with jet fuel, which is down on last week but more than we had when the Iran crisis began. We have 48 ships on the way to Australia, as we speak, for fuel deliveries.

And we have 3.4 billion litres of fuel locked in to be delivered over the next four weeks - that's 1.8 billion litres worth of diesel, 617 billion litres worth of petrol, 294 million litres of jet fuel and 582 million litres of crude oil. As you know the Albanese Government has also been working with industry to get extra deliveries to Australia, working with Export Finance Australia.

I'm pleased to announce this morning, two more deliveries have been locked in - 50 million litres of diesel. That will be delivered to Kwinana, the import facility, as a buffer for Western Australia in coming weeks and months, and 50 million litres more of jet fuel. There is concern internationally, and talking to my international colleagues about jet fuel supplies, this is an extra 50 million litres of jet fuel that will be delivered to Port Botany as an extra buffer for the East Coast.

That brings the total EFA supported imports to Australia to 800 million litres - 100 of which has already arrived and is already providing a buffer, and the other 700 million litres will arrive in coming weeks. This has been really important and is in addition to the 100 million letters of JetFuel Extra that the Prime Minister arranged to be delivered from China that was announced during the week.

So this is all very, I think, encouraging. A long way to go. There's still real international supply chain pressures.

Again, I can say that after having discussed the situation with international colleagues this week, a lot of concern. But nevertheless, Australians, when you think about what we've been faced over the last weeks, not only a crisis in Iran, but a refinery fire, the world's thrown a lot at Australia, but Government and industry working together has been able to see the situation now where we have quite a lot more fuel in Australia than we did on 28 February when the crisis began and a buffer, an increasing buffer to get us through coming weeks and months as we're waiting for this international situation to sort itself out.

I'll take questions here for the journalists who are here, and then I'll go to the phones. JOURNALIST: Is the Government going to rule out fuel rationing? CHRIS BOWEN: Look, we still don't regard that as being likely.

I've said that all along, I'm not envisaging fuel rationing as being likely. Obviously, we've developed a four-stage plan with the states. We're currently at stage two.

That's prudent. You know, this is a volatile world, and it's prudent that the Government enters into planning for the worst-case scenario. And governments do that, and governments do that together, and that's exactly what we've been doing.

But what we've been doing even more than that is arranging these extra supplies for Australia so that we have a buffer so that we can, hopefully, avoid even going to stage three, let alone stage four. JOURNALIST: And will the Government extend a temporary reduction on the petrol excise? CHRIS BOWEN: Look, the Prime Minister's been dealing with this.

He's made clear that, obviously, we will continue to monitor the situation but the excise is- was a temporary measure and we envisage it being a temporary measure. JOURNALIST: And what's your reaction to the IEA Chiefs warning that fuel could enter the red zone by July, and that's just as the tax cut on fuel is [inaudible]…? CHRIS BOWEN: [Talks over] Yeah.

I mean we've been talking regularly to the IEA Director, Fatih Birol, I've been doing that very regularly. This comes as no surprise. We've said a lot, and as I said a few minutes ago, this international crisis still has some way to run.

We've been wanting it resolved for weeks and weeks, but we are not central players. The United States and Iran and Israel are the central players here. So we want to see this resolved.

The soon it's resolved, the better it will be for supply chains. But even if it was resolved today, there would still be pressure in international supply chains. That's why the Government has been working so hard to get that extra buffer for Australia.

JOURNALIST: And just one topic. Can you talk us through, Australia has now joined nine other countries in urging Israel to stop its expansion of illegal settlement in the West Bank. Why is that?

What was [inaudible]… CHRIS BOWEN: [Talks over] Look, we’ve been very clear about settlements in the West Bank. This is not a new position for Australia. We've joined other countries, sure, that is new, but that is a consistent position that the Government has held and we [inaudible]… JOURNALIST: Do you have any reaction from, or can we get reaction from the Government in general that our own citizens here in Australia are claiming that they have faced abuse and violence, those ones from the global Hormuz flotilla, from Israeli authorities?

CHRIS BOWEN: Look, I think Minister Wong has been very strong and crystal clear on the Government's position about the situation in the Middle East and the approach that we want to see taken for Australian citizens and for people of goodwill from across the world. JOURNALIST: And do you think there’ll be any diplomat action? CHRIS BOWEN: I’ll leave the Foreign Minister to comment on any further developments.

Okay, we might to journalists on the phone. JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]… CHRIS BOWEN: It's a fair question, but it's not a technical term. He's simply just stating that, obviously, the longer this goes on the more pressure that there'll be as existing supplies are wound down, you know reserves are wound down around the world, and he would expect that situation internationally to get worse, not better.

I think that's what he's saying, that's what Dr Birol is saying, and that's a pretty consistent view. JOURNALIST: Do you think that Donald Trump wants an end to the war? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I'm not going to provide a commentary on Donald Trump and other players.

We want the war to end. We want the war to end. We want the Straits of Hormuz to be opened, and we consistently are calling for that and we’ll continue to.

JOURNALIST: [Inaudible]… Do you think it fit’s the Budget? CHRIS BOWEN: No, but I remember Jim Chalmers saying, I think the day after the budget, that he wanted to work through the detailed measures with the start-up industry in particular to ensure that these very necessary changes - these reforms which are really important for fairness and sustainability in the housing market and elsewhere - are implemented in such a way that the start-up industry and others similar areas get a fair go.

Jim Chalmers has been consistent about that from budget day on, and that remains the situation. JOURNALIST: Did the Government underestimate the blowback? CHRIS BOWEN: Oh no, I don't think so.

I think this was always going to be a controversial Budget, always. We've been undertaking big tax reforms, there's always going to be - some people are upset by that. I think the Government knew that.

I think you can't not tackle big reforms that are important for intergenerational equity and giving younger Australians a fair go at aspiration - the aspiration to own your own home is at the core of the Australian aspiration. Young people looking at the housing market saying, how the hell will I ever get into a home? And there being not good enough answers for that.

Parents and grandparents looking at their kids saying, I don't know how they're going to do it. This Government is tackling that issue. And yes, that will sometimes be controversial, but big reforms are controversial and they're worthwhile.

JOURNALIST: Do you agree with your colleague, Jerome Laxale(*), that there should be changes to this CGT policy though so the impact isn't as bad as small businesses are expecting? And I'm not talking about start-ups, I’m talking about small businesses. CHRIS BOWEN: Look I agree with the Treasurer that this is a big reform, there's detailed consultation as an important part of that.

It's not unusual when you're announcing a budget to announce a policy change and then to have, you know, draft legislation, exposure graphs and detailed consultation to have some of the finer implementation elements - that's not unusual and that is what is happening. JOURNALIST: There's a poll published in the news today that shows that Labor is going to [inaudible].. from a pivot hit at the next election, and that One Nation will see a massive surge.

How concerned is Labor about losing seats to One Nation? CHRIS BOWEN: Well, I'm not going to comment on individual polls other than to say we work every day for the best interests of Australians - every day. And you know, other political parties will out there make- some will be point scoring and making their points.

We are working every day for the Australian people. That's what we did our first term. I remember the first term, people said Labor would go into minority.

That's what the opinion poll said, that's what every commentator said. We weren't distracted by that. We focused on delivering to the Australian people, and the Australian people provided their feedback to us on Election Day in 2025.

So we’ll take same approach this term. JOURNALIST: Minister, there’s a protest underway today at the Victoria Barracks. CHRIS BOWEN: Yes, as we've seen all the way through, since the day that Richard announced this.

We will ensure heritage is protected. These are beautiful sites, important in the nation's heritage. But I'll tell you what's also important, is providing housing for Australians.

That's also important. Of course, the site's been in defence ownership for a long, long time, it doesn't mean it should always be in defence ownership. We invest heavily in defence heritage through the Australian War Memorial – that’s how the Government invests in defence heritage.

But of course, there are many instances of important building, public building in Australia and around the world which have changed their use but are still tested for heritage. I’m sure that will be the case for Victoria Barracks and the other important sites around the country. But, you know, Victoria Barracks is a site, for example, where most Australians don't get in to see.

It's, understandably, highly secure as a defence facility. I've been in there, I can tell you it's beautiful. And more Australians should have a chance to go in there and see it, and indeed, potentially live in it and work in it and play in the grounds.

More Australian’s should have the chance to do that. At the moment, hardly any Australians get to go inside those sandstone walls. Let’s open it up for more Australians to use.

JOURNALIST: Minister, has the Government had any update on the seven women and four children in Syria? Have they booked tickets? Has the Government been notified through their temporary passports if they have booked tickets back to Australia?

CHRIS BOWEN: I'm not aware. I’m not aware personally. JOURNALIST: Minister, when it comes to One Nation, I mean, what more could the Government do and the major parties [inaudible]… to stave off the threat of One Nation?

CHRIS BOWEN: Well, Mr Taylor can talk about the threat of One Nation with his party – that’s a matter for him. I know he’s personally suffered a 30 per cent swing in Farrah against him. But, from the Government’s point of view, from Labor’s point of view, what we need to do is stay utterly focused like a laser on costs of living, on security - international security, fuel security and broader international security - and deliver for the Australian people.

Deliver tax cuts, deliver cost of living relief, deliver housing affordability, deliver big healthcare investments which improve the quality of life for Australians right across the country - that's what we did in our first term, that's what we're doing in our second term and that will remain our focus. JOURNALIST: That was the last question, thank you. CHRIS BOWEN: All good?

All in? All done? All right, thanks all.

See 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.