Press conference, Fairfield West, NSW

MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY, CHRIS BOWEN: Well, good morning everyone. Australia has 41 days worth of petrol supplies, 32 days worth of diesel, and 30 days worth of jet fuel. We have 41 ships on the water, on the way to Australia, and 3.3 billion litres of fuel locked in to be delivered over the next four weeks.

So Australia's fuel security remains strong and secure. We have seen ongoing disturbing scenes over the last 48 hours in the Middle East. The situation is getting worse in the Middle East.

The dispute between Saudi Arabia, involving Saudi Arabia and the Houthis, and the ongoing war in Iran is doing nothing to improve the fuel supply around the world, and is pushing up prices of oil. We're seeing that in the markets even overnight, and that will inevitably also flow through to Australia. However, the Australian Government will remain firmly focused on ensuring our fuel security, just as we have for the last more than six months since this crisis began.

These weekly updates will continue. I'll remain firmly focused on working with industry to ensure, just as we have, over the last six months, despite people saying that rationing would be inevitable and that shortages were coming and playing politics, the Government has adopted a cool and calm approach to ensuring our fuel security, and that will continue. We'll continue to monitor the situation in the Middle East very closely, and to continue to work with friends and allies across the world to encourage a peaceful resolution as soon as possible.

Just on one other matter before I take questions, I very much welcome the states and territories yesterday agreeing with the Albanese government to work together on ensuring that renters and apartment dwellers can get access to plug-in solar and batteries. This is consumer energy resources for renters and apartment dwellers that gives them the opportunity to use solar panels and batteries that they can put into their rental property, and then take with them when they leave, at no cost to the landlord.

Now, we’ve got a lot of work to do on safety and on standards. We’ll be working with Standards Australia and with all the state safety regulators. States will need to review their Strata laws.

But this is happening around the world. Germany is a world leader here, Spain’s been doing it, the United Kingdom just announced they were doing it, New Zealand is on the path to doing it. And now, Australia is on the path to doing it as well.

We have the world leading rooftop solar, we now have the world leading home batteries. But we want to make sure that renters and apartment dwellers are an important part of that journey, and it has been difficult up until now for all renters to participate. This gives a new option.

It’s not for everyone, it gives renters and apartment dwellers more options. We’ve got more work to do, this is not happening overnight, we have to get it right, and the work on the standards is very important. But that work- I’m delighted the states and territories unanimously agreed with me yesterday, to begin that work.

I’m happy to take questions on those things, and other matters. All the journalists today are on the phone, so we’ll go to an orderly queue on the phone. JOURNALIST: Hey, Minister, Amalee from Channel Nine here.

Just on those stats, you said 41 ships are on the way, last week you had a figure of 30. Is that dropping [Indistinct]…? I know you previously had figures [Indistinct] on the way.

MINISTER BOWEN: The figure moves around. The question was the number of ships on the water to Australia. The figure does move move around.

It's been in the 30s recently, back up to 41 this week. It has been, you are right Amalee, it's been in the 50s at various points. But when you look at that together with the 3.3 billion litres of fuel locked in to be delivered over the next four weeks, it's all pretty consistent with the flow of fuel to Australia over the last six months.

JOURNALIST: Hi Minister, [Indistinct]… MINISTER BOWEN: We might just need to turn the volume up. Just give us a second. I can't… Okay, have another go.

JOURNALIST: Hi Minister, [Indistinct] from Ten. MINISTER BOWEN: [Talks over] That's better. JOURNALIST: Just on this new data out from ACCI today, one in three businesses has had to close in the past year, 38.5 per cent of owners are barely making enough to get by.

What's your take on this outlook for small businesses? Quite grim from their end, isn’t it? MINISTER BOWEN: Look, we know that the cost of living pressures are applying to businesses as well as to households.

But we also know that there's lots of small businesses starting up. You will see small businesses doing it tough, you will see small businesses under pressure, we know that, and that's why we're taking such action on cost of living, which applies to small businesses as well as households. We've also seen more small businesses open, a lot.

And that is to be expected as part of the way small businesses normally operate. JOURNALIST: Minister, it's Josh Martin from 7NEWS. You said the incidents in the Middle East are disturbing, pushing up prices.

Matt's just highlighted small business concerns, there's around a 70 per cent chance of a rate hike this month. How worried is the government about the economy and the chance of a recession? MINISTER BOWEN: Well, the Treasurer has been talking about the impact of bond yields, which you're seeing play out around the world at the moment.

And of course, I'll leave the Treasurer to comment on that in more detail. But that is causing concern right around the world, economic uncertainty caused by the changes in bond yields around the world. Obviously, these recent developments in the Middle East do not help the economic situation in any country.

In any country, including Australia. This ongoing uncertainty about fuel supply and the impact it will have, primarily on prices rather than direct availability for Australia, is an ongoing concern. So if your question is how concerned are we about the state of the world economy, we are pretty concerned.

JOURNALIST: Hi there, Minister, this is Bella with the ABC. Just on the plug-in solar, is the government considering or open to any subsidies or rebates for renters who are using that plug-in solar? MINISTER BOWEN: Well, if they're covered by the safety rules, so then they'd be automatically covered by the government's existing rebates, the Cheaper Home Battery policy and the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme which supports solar panels.

But we'll work those details through. JOURNALIST: And how do you ensure that landlords are going to be on board with it? MINISTER BOWEN: Well, what we need to do is continue to work with the states on the regulations relating to landlords and tenants and Strata rules.

That's why, one of the reasons why this is not an overnight proposition. We've got to get the safety standards right. It can be done safely, it's done safely in Europe.

It's being done safely in the United Kingdom and New Zealand, but it's not automatic. You've got to get the rules right. And also the rules around landlords and tenants, it's not going to be for everyone.

But it is a new option for people to use if they wish. JOURNALIST: Just on another matter, The Australian has an article about- with some of Pauline Hanson's comments on the Karl Stefanovic Podcast about the Prime Minister's mother living in social housing, and says that the the Prime Minister needs to consider that people who are living in their cars and are doing it really tough at the moment.

What do you have to say to those comments that she made? MINISTER BOWEN: Let me say a couple of things, firstly. Is there anyone Pauline Hanson won't attack?

I mean, she's been attacking Andrew Hastie this week, who is a decorated war veteran. I have plenty of disagreements with Andrew Hastie, obviously. But I honour his service to our country, and he should not not be attacked in this way.

You can debate policy, but you shouldn't attack the person, like Pauline Hanson has been attacking Andrew Hastie, especially a decorated war veteran. Andrew Hastie gave evidence under oath in a court case. She's suggesting he should have lied under oath.

I really don't know what the attack on Andrew Hastie is about. And, ultimately, Andrew Hastie showed the bravery to go to Afghanistan in a uniform. Pauline Hanson doesn't have the bravery to stand in front of a TV camera if an ABC journalist is present.

So Pauline Hanson is not in any position to lecture anyone else about bravery or love of country. On the Prime Minister's mother, some things are off limits. Attacking a woman who's been dead for more than 20 years for living in public housing is off limits.

We can have a debate between politicians, leave families alone, particularly a family member who's deceased. For God's sake, there's a line and Pauline Hanson regularly crosses the line. This is an outrageous attack on a woman who is not here to give her perspective, the Prime Minister's mum died more than 20 years ago.

So keep the Prime Minister's mum out of it, keep families out of it, have a public debate. Final point, Pauline Hanson pretends to be a friend of the battler. Well all the battlers living in public housing around Australia, she's just told you what she thinks of you if you've been living in public housing for a long time.

She thinks you shouldn't be there. So Pauline Hanson pretends to be the friend of the battlers, but really she's the friend of Gina Rinehart and Gina Rinehart alone. And the final point is this.

In the week- we've just got some bikes going past, we’ll let that happen. Final point is this, in the week that Pauline Hanson spent a lot of time defending her Victorian leader on drug charges, drug use and drink driving. She's been attacking Andrew Hastie and now we know, attacking the PM's mum.

It shows where her priorities lie. JOURNALIST: And Minister, just one more from me. There's been an Optus outage, lots of calls not able to get through to Triple Zero yesterday afternoon.

What's the government's response to that, how concerned are they? MINISTER BOWEN: So, Anika Wells has told me that all the necessary welfare checks have occurred and we understand that anybody who was impacted is safe and well, so that's a big relief. But obviously it's deeply concerning that this has happened again.

On a smaller scale than previously, but still, any breach here, any failure of service is concerning. All the necessary investigations have begun. It's an obligation on our telecommunications companies to keep all their technology for Triple Zero calls in the best possible working order.

It appears something's gone wrong again. There's a full investigation. But the good news is the welfare checks have indicated at this point that anybody who was impacted has no ongoing issues and is safe and well.

JOURNALIST: Minister Bowen, Amalee from Nine again. Just on a separate matter, the Senate voted this week for the government to scrap the allied health cap for veterans health services. Is this something the government is considering, and do you think there should be a cap on what veterans can claim?

MINISTER BOWEN: So thanks Amalee for the question, but let's-we need to deal with the facts. This Government has made a massive investment in veterans affairs and veterans' entitlements, as we should. The waiting list for consideration on the previous government was a national disgrace, and Matt Keogh and this Government fixed that.

We've also increased payments. What we have done, the old system was after 12 visits to an allied healthcare professional, you had to get a review from a general practitioner. We're changing that from 12 visits to $5,000, because we want to ensure our veterans get the best possible care, at the best possible value.

Now, it's not a cap. If people need ongoing allied health professional care after they've seen the GP and the GP says they'll need it, they'll get it. So, there's always been a review.

We've changed that review from 12 visits to $5,000, because we think that's a better way of assessing the care that the veteran is getting. We’ve increased the payments, we've increased the budget funding, not cut it, and I think if the opposition was fair dinkum, they'd recognise those facts, and they would recognise that they left an absolute mess when it comes to veterans affairs.

JOURNALIST: Minister, just one final one. We’ve learnt of another Optus outage yesterday that particularly affected Triple Zero services in Victoria. Was the government notified correctly by Optus?

What update can you give us about this incident? MINISTER BOWEN: You might have missed, I just answered the question on that mate, but I'm not aware of any particular issues with the reporting, to the best of my knowledge, that's in good working order. But I'll leave Anika Wells to make any further statements about that if there’s a need.

But as I said just a minute ago the welfare checks on those people impacted shows that everyone is safe and well. There’s been no ongoing impact. It’s disturbing that this has happened again, and the full investigation is underway by all the relevant authorities, and Anika will give further updates.

She’s- I know she's appearing in the media tomorrow. She’ll give further updates when more comes to hand. Okay, that might be a wrap.

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.