00:01Yesterday we heard the news that the International Energy Agency had approved the release of
00:07400 million barrels of oil from its 32 member countries in a bid to try and prevent further
00:15oil price hikes amid this ongoing unrest in the Middle East.
00:19Now Australia is one of those member countries and has been considering its response.
00:23Today the Federal Energy Minister Chris Bowen has announced that up to more than 760 million
00:33litres of fuel and diesel will be released from Australia's domestic reserves and he says
00:40that that will contribute to the IEA's collective efforts here and is the equivalent of up to
00:475 million barrels.
00:49But the Energy Minister also says that this will help relieve the pressure that is currently
00:56on distribution chains here in Australia and that companies releasing this fuel will need
01:03to prioritise regional communities that are currently facing shortages.
01:09Now the Federal Government has repeatedly said this week that those regional communities
01:15and farmers who have been unable to access fuel that that's come as a result of panic buying
01:22and a sharp increase in demand rather than an issue with supply.
01:27Chris Bowen has regularly said that our supply is sufficient and that ships do continue to arrive
01:34and bring fuel here to Australia but he's been facing questions all week about whether or not
01:42Australia is going to run out of fuel if this crisis in the Middle East continues.
01:47He was asked that again today.
01:49Let's take a listen to his response.
01:50Fuel supply is currently secure, it's arriving on schedule. Will there be further threats
01:57to fuel supply as the international circumstance, if the international circumstance continues
02:01to worsen? Of course. That is a realistic thing which governments should prepare for and
02:05are prepared for and Australian people are prepared for. But I think the sort of inflammatory running
02:10out language, we are nowhere near that.
02:11The opposition, Romy, has been critical of the government's handling of fuel shortages in
02:16regional areas. How has the shadow energy minister responded to today's announcement?
02:22Yes, that's right. The opposition has been applying pressure here all week, particularly
02:27given those reports that we're hearing of farmers unable to access diesel and therefore not able
02:33to operate their machinery, particularly as they head into the cropping season. Now, as mentioned
02:41earlier, Chris Bowen has repeatedly said that this is a problem of increase in demand rather
02:47than supply, but that's been criticised.
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