ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning. Shortly, Minister Bowen will provide his weekly update on the Australian Government's Minimum Stockpile Obligation and some broader updates as well. But it certainly has been a very busy week. Last night, I joined the Strait of Hormuz Freedom of Navigation Summit that was hosted by President Macron of France, Prime Minister Starmer of the United Kingdom, and also in person, Chancellor Merz of Germany, and also Giorgia Meloni of Italy. There were 49 countries that participated, well into the early hours of this morning, Australian time. There was a consistent approach that we want to see de-escalation, we want to see the Strait of Hormuz opened and we want to see no privatisation and no tolls. There was also a report from the International Maritime Organisation as well about the welfare of seafarers. Of course, many have been kept on those ships in the Gulf for a long period of time now, and there's real concern about their welfare as well as their safety going forward.
The news that broke while the meeting was occurring, and I think very clearly that was no accident, that Iran had agreed to open the Strait for all passage is important. We want to see though, this fragile arrangement confirmed, and we want to see those ships being able to pass. It's not surprising that there was a common view. Because freedom of navigation is essential for global trade. It is how the world operates, not just in fuel, but in other areas as well. And the precedent that would be created if a country was allowed to close a navigation strait to international traffic would change the very way that the global economy operates. So, we were very clear and Australia remains, of course, prepared to provide assistance. There'll be a further conference held in London this week. Australia will participate in that. We are, of course, already responding to the requests that we had from Gulf countries, particularly the UAE, to provide the Wedgetail E-7 aircraft, that has been important as a defensive weapon there in the Strait to defend, not just Gulf countries, but also, of course, the Australian citizens who are there in Dubai and Abu Dhabi in particular.
Our focus, of course, has also been on doing what we can to shield Australians from the worst of the impacts that are occurring right around the globe. We're not immune from these events and we remain in vigilant position each and every day, doing what we can to secure supply going forward. And this week, the capacity of 250,000 tonnes of fertiliser from Indonesia is welcomed and I thank President Prabowo for his support. In addition to that, we've had the first two cargoes, underwritten by the Export Finance Australia arrangements, that have resulted in 100 million litres of diesel being purchased for Australia. All of this makes a difference going forward as well.
We want de-escalation and the rapid resumption of negotiations. We want to prevent further loss of innocent life and prevent damage to civilian infrastructure. We want safe and open passage of trade. That is in Australia's interests and in the interests of the world. And the fact that the world came together yesterday, 49 countries, as well as international organisations, says how important that is for the world. We want the Strait of Hormuz to be fully reopened for all countries permanently, and that will be important. We have continued to secure critical fuel supplies. We'll continue to work on that for Australia, and we have made some progress there. But we'll continue to work around the clock to shield Australia from the impacts of this war. We're not immune. What we are doing, though, is making every effort that we can, leaving no stone unturned, to make sure that we defend Australia's national interests. That's what my government will continue to do over coming days and weeks. And we thank you very much, the business community who we're working with closely, the Australian people who were engaged with informing them of what the circumstances are on a regular basis so that they can make their own decisions as well, to look after each other by only taking what fuel they need and no more. And that increasingly the figures there are positive. I'll turn to Minister Bowen and then we'll take some questions.
CHRIS BOWEN, MINISTER FOR CLIMATE CHANGE AND ENERGY: Thanks very much, Prime Minister. These weekly updates are very important in making sure Australians have full visibility about how much fuel we have in Australia each week and how much is coming in. And today's update is encouraging. I can tell you that today, Australia has 46 days worth of petroleum on hand in our stock holdings. That's eight days more than the update last week. That is just under 2 billion litres of petrol. And diesel, we have 31 days’ worth of supply. That's the same as last week, 2.8 billion litres. And jet fuel, 30 days of supply, which is two more days than last week. Interestingly, also, these figures are more than we had on hand at the beginning of the Iran conflict. At the end of February and at the beginning of March, we had 36 days worth of petrol. So, we now have 10 days more petrol than we had when this international crisis began. And it's important, as I said last week, just to remember that these stockholdings are not the entire amount of fuel in Australia, doesn't count the fuel in people's car, doesn't count the fuel in service stations. It's what's on hand, in reserve, and it doesn't just go down, it also, of course, goes up as fuel arrives. And that's why we're able to say that we've actually seen more fuel in Australia now as a result of government and industry working so closely together, than when this international conflict began. Also, I'm pleased to tell you that, as we speak, we have 61 cargo ships on their way to Australia on the water. That compares to 57 this time last week. So, four more ships on their way, than the same time last week. And we have contracted now all through May. So, we have locked in contracts through the rest of April and now all through May, and over the next four weeks, rolling four weeks, these updates I give each Saturday, we have 4.1 billion litres of fuel locked in, contracted to deliver to Australia. That consists of 2,055 million litres of diesel, 390 million litres of jet fuel, 753 million litres of petrol and 903 million litres of crude oil, all scheduled, contracted to arrive in Australia over the next four weeks. I also just wanted to give you a quick update on the situation in Geelong. As you know, the Prime Minister and I visited there yesterday morning after the fire, in the 24 hours earlier, which was not a well-timed fire for the situation Australia's facing. But we announced yesterday that the Geelong refinery is working at 80 per cent capacity for diesel and jet fuel and 60 per cent capacity for petrol. That is still the case. I spoke to the Chief Executive of Viva this morning again. They're working through the weekend and they hope and intend to update the Australian people on Monday about their plan to increase that production further from that 60 to 80 per cent. I'm confident that diesel and jet fuel will return to more normal levels quite quickly. Petrol will take a little bit longer. I just finally wanted to let you know that I've decided to extend the period of higher sulphur for petrol in Australia. As you know, early in this crisis I lifted the allowed minimum standard from 10 parts per million to 50 parts per million, until the end of May. Given that this, despite positive elements overnight, this international uncertainty is continuing. And we continue to face pressures in the international supply chain, I have now extended that to the end of September. So, the 50 parts per million will be allowed until the end of September. And then a period to the 31st of December where that fuel can continue to be blended into the broader mix at a lower rate to enable the refineries and the importers to manage their fleet of fuel accordingly. I can also give you, very quickly, as I do, each press conference, a quick update on service station outages, but I'll do so briefly, given there's so many matters. In NSW, I'm very pleased that the number of service stations without diesel out of the 2,400 service stations across NSW, is now down to 49, which is 2 per cent of service stations and 15 without petrol, which is 0.5 per cent of the petrol stations in NSW. NSW has been the state where we've had the biggest challenge because of the agricultural seasons. I won't run through each state. I can answer questions, but I can tell you that across the country there are 120 service stations, out of the around 8,000, without diesel. That's 1.7 per cent of service stations. So, in other words, 98.5 per cent of service stations are well stocked with diesel and a higher proportion for petrol. Thanks, Prime Minister.
JOURNALIST: Following the report that the Strait of Hormuz is being opened, if that holds, how long will it take for oil supplies and price drops to flow into Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: We hope that it certainly holds. This was positive news that we received last night. People were in, with the exception of the four European leaders, were participating in a virtual manner, including people in this region, including Prime Minister Luxon of New Zealand, Prime Minister Wong of Singapore. Text messages were going around while that was going on as well, with this positive news. But we know that it's very fragile and we don't assume the best. What we do is prepare as best we can for the uncertainty which is there. So, we hope that it holds, but what we know is that the impact will be long-lasting. You can't open the Strait of Hormuz and have the ships arrive at port in Asia in the next day. In some cases it's 30 days travel. In other cases, of course, they then have to go and fill up back in the Gulf and travel back as well. So, you're talking 90 days before the expectation, at least. The other thing that has occurred, of course, is destruction of infrastructure. We know that Qatar, for example, has had significant impact on its infrastructure when it comes to gas, but there have been other impacts as well. So, what we want to see is that repair occur. One of the discussions we had last night as well is that there's uncertainty about the clearing of the straits as well with issues such as sea mines that will have to be dealt with. We want to make sure of course that there is safety. The other issue that was discussed last night is the issue of insurance as well. Can be a barrier that needs to be overcome. So, there are challenges remaining. This isn't job done. These challenges will be around for a considerable period of time. What we are doing though is putting everything in place that we can, to shield Australians from the worst of the impacts. But there will remain an impact over months ahead.
JOURNALIST: During this meeting last night, can you just detail what, if any commitments Australia made, and in terms of military assets, are we sending anything more? What practical steps are we taking?
PRIME MINISTER: It wasn't that sort of a meeting. There was an agreement that in London there will be discussion about what assets might be required. For example, we already have the E7 there. That's providing a role. We spoke about the full range of support that could be required. Now that could be diplomatic measures. And certainly Australia is putting forward, we continue to put forward diplomatic measures as well. The call for de-escalation that we have put forward. The engagement with countries in that region, particularly Gulf countries as well. And so we will continue to be a constructive contributor to that debate. But it certainly, at this stage, it wasn't the forum where people were committing specifics. And Australia, obviously, is a long way away as well from the Strait compared with European nations.
JOURNALIST: So, is it fair to say that you could commit more assets? But in this later meeting in London?
PRIME MINISTER: It's fair to say that we'll give consideration to requests which are made when we come together. This was a very positive coming together of 49 nations as well as international organisations from around the world, with a common objective. How do we secure de-escalation and peace in the region? How do we make sure as well that the economic impact is minimised on our respective populations?
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, you said that it will take some time before the shipments come to Australia. In that time, is there any chance that we could move to stage three of the emergency fuel plan?
PRIME MINISTER: We have outlined the four stages for good reasons so that we prepare, depending upon the uncertainty which is there for anything that might occur in the future. We're at stage two at this point in time. That certainly won't be changing between now and next week when we – I'll be standing up yet again, I'm sure, with Chris, hopefully at the Commonwealth Offices. So, we will continue to engage. And this week, I spoke with the West Australian Premier yesterday, who's the chair of CAF, the Council of Australian Federation. I spoke with him, we'll have more discussions with state and territory governments through the National Cabinet, just to continue to collaborate. If any meetings are organised, that shouldn't be read into a position of a change in levels because that certainly won't be happening in the immediate period. But we'll continue to monitor. As I said in my National Address, there could be, may well be, difficult times ahead. That's why we want to see an end to this war, why we want to see a de-escalation and why we want to be able to go about repairing the global economic structures which are so important.
JOURNALIST: The reports are that the Government has activated the National Incident Centre for the first time since COVID for medical supply shortages. Should Australians be concerned about this?
PRIME MINISTER: We are doing everything that we can to prepare for contingencies down the track. This is having a very big impact on global economic activity. So, it is commonsense that every one of my Ministers, whether it's Agriculture Ministers talking to each other, Energy Ministers, Economic Ministers talking to each other. The Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, has been in Washington D.C. meeting with the IMF, the World Bank, as well as with his counterparts in our region. I have had regular phone calls with international leaders and engagement, regular communication as well. This is a difficult period, and we don't want to gild the lily about that. We've been upfront about that. But what we've been doing isn't just sitting back, it has been; what can we do? Any measures that we can do to make a difference, that's precisely what we are undertaking.
JOURNALIST: Do you support the US Government’s blockade on Iranian ships?
PRIME MINISTER: Look, we want to see a de-escalation. We want to see freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz. That was the clear decision and determination last night. That's why we came together. Freedom of navigation is essential for global trade, and we want to see that occur.
JOURNALIST: Does it say something that all those countries met without the US President in that meeting?
PRIME MINISTER: No, the US President certainly was aware of the meeting and there was to be a report after the meeting occurred as well. This was for countries that were not participants in the conflict. And so, the rest of the world has been impacted by this and people who were, or countries who were, not participants, were involved last night. So that we could all discuss collectively what the impact of this has been.
JOURNALIST: Prime Minister, on the release of Ben Roberts-Smith last night, do you think it was appropriate he was given special treatment which saw him taken out the back as opposed to other inmates taken out the front, and also corrective staff blocking the media on a public road.
PRIME MINISTER: I have no intention of making any public comments about matters that are before the courts. We have, in this great democracy of ours, a separation of the political system from the judicial system. That's one of the ways that we define our democracy. Something that we should be proud of, that we should cherish, and we should not undermine or compromise on. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: Do you believe he should be welcomed to Anzac Day services next week?
PRIME MINISTER: I’ve made clear my position. I refer to previous answers and every other answer, both, I've given in the past, but future answers as well, I will give while there's a matter before the courts. It's very important that this issue not be politicised and I certainly don't intend to do so. Have a lovely weekend.
ENDS