00:01So the US President declared that other countries would be involved in this blockade, the question
00:07being which countries are going to be involved or will say yes to the US President.
00:12The Prime Minister this morning was asked, has Australia been asked to join this blockade?
00:18Mr Albanese saying no, Australia hasn't been asked and also that he doesn't expect Australia
00:24to be asked.
00:25Instead, the Prime Minister was keen to focus on the fact that Australia has sent support
00:30to the UAE in the form of a surveillance aircraft.
00:34That's already been there in place for four weeks.
00:37That's been extended for at least another four weeks, the Prime Minister clarified this
00:42morning.
00:42Now, in terms of whether the Australian Government supports or doesn't support this idea of
00:47a blockade put forward by the US President Donald Trump, the Prime Minister didn't give
00:52a clear answer on that, but was giving a general response in terms of the Australian Government's
00:58position that it wants to see a de-escalation of the conflict in the Middle East.
01:03I want to see the resumption of peace talks.
01:07We want to see an end to this conflict.
01:09It's having a devastating impact on the global economy.
01:14And the longer it goes, the bigger the impact will be and the longer the tail will be as
01:20well.
01:21And so we want to see an end to the conflict.
01:24We've made that very clear for some time.
01:27Stephanie, where is the Prime Minister travelling to this week?
01:29He's heading off to Brunei and Malaysia, Gemma, the reason why the Australian Government does
01:35have concerns about fuel supply in the months ahead, given the uncertainty of what is going
01:40on in the Middle East.
01:41So in terms of putting this into figures for you to understand why he's heading to these
01:45two countries, Brunei, we get about 9% of our diesel from there.
01:50Malaysia, they are our third largest source of refined fuel.
01:54But it's not just fuel.
01:55It's also the need for fertiliser.
01:57Australia relies very heavily on imports of fertiliser at the moment.
02:02Winter crops are being sowed, so there's even more of a need for that fertiliser.
02:07Both Brunei and Malaysia supply that product to Australia as well.
02:11So the point of these trips is for the Prime Minister to ensure open communication and coordination
02:18and some level of guarantee that supplies will continue to flow between the two countries.
02:23Australia's bargaining chip in all of this is that we export a lot of gas.
02:28And it follows on from the Prime Minister visiting Singapore last week to once again shore up
02:34that supplies will continue between the two countries.
02:37There's no extra fuel supplies being agreed to here.
02:40It's more just about ensuring the status quo during these uncertain times.
02:45there's no extra fuel supplies being agreed to the second period.
02:45Thanks, everyone.
02:46You
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