Portfolio — 30 March 2026

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Mr Bowen, delivered the most consequential day of fuel security activity since the Middle East conflict began disrupting global supply chains, combining an immediate cost-of-living package, new legislation, and updated supply data across both media releases and the House chamber.

The centrepiece is the National Fuel Security Plan, finalised with all states and territories through National Cabinet on 30 March. The plan sets out a four-stage response framework — from 'Plan and prepare' through to 'Protecting critical services for all Australians' — and serves as the coordinating instrument across all three tiers of government [TA-260330-climat-1c587c7310a5].

Immediate relief flows from 1 April: the fuel excise on petrol and diesel will be halved for three months, saving approximately 26.3 cents per litre or $19 per 65-litre tank, at a total cost of $2.55 billion alongside the simultaneous elimination of the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge [TA-260330-climat-1c587c7310a5] [TA-260330-climat-4956864065bb]. The Treasurer has modelled the combined excise and road user charge measures reducing headline inflation by approximately 0.5 percentage points through the June quarter 2026.

The Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge's next scheduled increase has also been deferred by six months to ease cash-flow pressure on the trucking sector.

The legislative instrument underpinning the medium-term response is the Export Finance and Insurance Corporation Amendment (Strategic Reserve) Bill 2026, which Mr Bowen introduced and moved to second reading in the House on 30 March [TA-260330-house-326949c748de:s031]. The bill creates a new fuel security trading power authorising Export Finance Australia to acquire fuel on international markets where commercial sourcing is cost-prohibitive, underwriting shiploads directly and deploying a financial toolkit spanning insurance, derivatives, loans, and contracts-for-difference.

The bill also legislates the government's pre-existing $1.2 billion Critical Minerals Strategic Reserve election commitment, empowering Export Finance Australia to secure antimony, gallium, and rare earth elements through offtake agreements, forward contracts, physical stockpiling, and price certainty contracts [TA-260330-climat-82c9f44fc575]. Mr Bowen explicitly framed the strategic reserve as a commitment that predates the current crisis and will extend beyond it — signalling that the bill is not solely a crisis response but an enduring structural instrument.

The bill identifies fuel and fertiliser as priority goods and was scheduled for passage in the House on Monday evening and the Senate the following day [TA-260330-house-326949c748de:s231].

On immediate supply conditions, Mr Bowen reported national fuel reserves of 39 days of petrol at 1.6 billion litres, 30 days of diesel at 2.7 billion litres, and 30 days of jet fuel at approximately 800 million litres. The Viva refinery in Geelong delivered to regional Australia at 55 per cent above normal volumes in the prior week, with priority given to agricultural suppliers and farmers.

Six cancelled April shipments have been replaced by nine additional cargoes, and the government stated confidence in supply through May [TA-260330-house-326949c748de:s231].

The cross-stream coherence of today's activity is notable. What Mr Bowen communicated via media releases — immediate excise relief, the National Fuel Security Plan, and the strategic reserve bill — he also advanced directly in the chamber through the second reading and question time. The parliamentary record reinforces the government's consistent framing of this as proactive structural preparedness rather than reactive crisis management, distinguishing the intervention from the supply stabilisation steps reported on 26 March.

Mr Bowen also acknowledged the Minister for Resources for international engagement securing the critical minerals reserve and the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment for positioning Export Finance Australia as the delivery vehicle [TA-260330-house-326949c748de:s031] — signalling deliberate cross-portfolio architecture in the bill's design.