00:00Regionally, I indicated yesterday that supply to the regions is way up. Obviously it's not
00:07currently coping with the much increased demand and there's more work to do, which we are
00:13doing, as the Prime Minister indicated, every day in close collaboration with the states
00:17and with industry. So Ampol and Viva, our two refiners for example, year on year, supplies
00:25to regional New South Wales by Ampol up 34% and by Viva up 43%. That's how much extra diesel
00:33and petrol is currently flowing to regional New South Wales as we speak. In Queensland,
00:40the Viva figure is up 22%, Ampol is up 34%. Sorry, that was New South Wales, is up 20%
00:49in Queensland.
00:51And similar figures right across the country, I won't go through them all, Western Australia,
00:56Ampol's supply up 47%, Viva's up 8%. I also just wanted to share with you the latest new figures
01:03on terminal sales to give, again, Australians an indication of what's happening domestically.
01:09Terminal sales means that obviously the sales are happening, that means the demand is there
01:13and the supply is there. So the Newcastle diesel terminal sales, 36% higher in March than forecast.
01:20Geelong, 37% higher. Esperance, 41% higher. Gladstone, 48% higher. And Mackay, 55% higher.
01:31So those figures show me that the demand is very high still and the supply is also increasing
01:37and has increased. Obviously, as I've said, the government has always acknowledged there are
01:42real and unacceptable shortages in regional Australia as the demand has spiked so much
01:47and it's taken time for that strong domestic supply we have to flow through to regional areas
01:54to cater for that increased demand. But as the Prime Minister's indicated, we're in constant contact.
02:00I'm speaking every day, several times a day often, to the major chief executives as well as my state
02:07colleagues. I've had two conversations with State Ministers this morning and more scheduled
02:11for this afternoon and we're very much looking forward to National Cabinet on Monday.
Comments