00:01Chris Bowen there reiterating that the federal government is doing everything in its power
00:06to boost supply and ensure the distribution of fuel to affected regions in Australia.
00:13Highlighting that figure there, an extra 519 million litres of petrol and diesel now released
00:19from Australia's fuel reserves after a decision was made at the end of last week to unlock
00:2520% of Australia's petrol reserves.
00:28So, look, the Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, tempering expectations, saying it will still
00:35take some time to flow.
00:37The federal government really viewing its role in this supply shortage scenario as ensuring
00:46there is enough supply, but the responsibility of distributing fuel where it needs to go,
00:52resting with state and territory governments.
00:56And to that end, we heard from the Prime Minister today that a national fuel task force has
01:01been established and will be headed by Anthea Harris, who is the former chief executive of
01:07the Australian Energy Regulator.
01:10Asked about what her powers would be, Energy Minister Chris Bowen confirmed that she will
01:16not have the power to direct the supply of fuel.
01:20Let's hear what he had to say.
01:22The fuel security coordinator will advise government.
01:25Ministers have powers.
01:26I have powers.
01:28State ministers have powers.
01:29At the moment, what we're doing is working with industry to ensure that the fuel can get
01:36to where it's ended as such, as best we can.
01:39The fuel task force coordinator will work with government.
01:44It's ministers who hold powers.
01:46So, the Energy Minister also reiterating that the supply of liquid fuels on shipments to
01:52Australia are secure for the rest of March and into April, but acknowledging that in that
01:58latter half of April and beyond into May, the situation is a little bit more uncertain.
02:04And Sarah, what's been the response from the states and territories to this new fuel task force?
02:09Yeah, Jo, look, mixed responses.
02:12The Northern Territory Chief Minister, Leah Finocchiaro, welcomed the establishment of
02:16the task force, saying she's sure that states and territories will work well with Anthea Harris,
02:23though acknowledging that the Northern Territory is not as badly affected in terms of supply
02:27shortages as other jurisdictions.
02:29For example, Queensland.
02:30We heard from Queensland Premier David Crisofulli, who was quite a lot more critical of the way
02:37the federal government has handled this.
02:39He pointed out that the Queensland government raised concerns about supply shortages with
02:45the federal energy minister last week, and he says those concerns were met with ridicule,
02:52and that a fairly pointed remark from the Queensland Premier saying that if the government had
02:59clearer messaging, then consumers would avoid stockpiling fuel.
03:05Our request on behalf of Queensland is very clear.
03:09We want two things to flow, information and fuel.
03:13And if the government can work on those plans and show the clarity of messaging, people will
03:19respond and respond accordingly.
03:21A task force has been established by the Prime Minister, which we wholeheartedly support.
03:25It's a very strong move, and we need that national leadership at this time of global fuel
03:30crisis.
03:31For the territory, though, we don't have shortages of supply, and we're not experiencing some
03:36of the same concerns that some of our state and territory counterparts are.
03:40Our concerns are predominantly still focused on access because of flooding, and so that continues
03:47to be something we manage on a case-by-case basis.
03:50And the PM's also been up today. Did he have anything to say about the war in general?
03:56He did. He seemed to urge the US and Israel to wrap up the war with Iran. Speaking to Triple
04:05M Radio
04:06in Hobart this morning, Anthony Albanese said, I can see this ending, meaning the conflict in the
04:12Middle East. He said that the objective of denying Iran a nuclear weapon had been achieved. Now,
04:18when he was asked about this a few hours later during his press conference, he seemed to walk
04:23back that language a little bit. He said he's hopeful that the war will soon end. Let's listen
04:29to what he had to say.
04:30We, of course, are not participants in the conflict. And so what we say, though, is we'll continue
04:39to argue for a de-escalation. It's not certain, that's the truth, how long this will last. But I'm hopeful
04:51that you can see an end point. The objectives of denying Iran the opportunity to have a development
05:01of a nuclear weapon have been secured. So that was objective number one. Iran's ability to engage
05:12in attacks in the region have also been undermined by this process as well. So we'll continue
05:22to monitor, continue to engage in, we receive updated briefings, but we'll continue as well
05:32to call for that de-escalation.
05:35Now, we know Iran still has around 400 kilograms of enriched uranium in underground stockpiles.
05:44But it seems the prime minister is at least suggesting there is an off ramp here. And of
05:49course, a swift wrap up of this latest conflict in the Middle East is in Australia's economic
05:55interests and the global economic interests. And certainly that is the outcome that both sides
06:00of politics would like to see.
06:03Okay.
06:03Let's see.
06:04Let's see.
06:04Let's see.
06:04Let's see.
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