MATT SHIRVINGTON, HOST: We're being warned this morning that major Asian fuel producers may start prioritising their own domestic markets if this supply crisis continues to worse around the world.
NAT BARR, HOST: That could be a disaster for Australia because we import around 90 per cent of our refined fuel from Asia. So, later today, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will fly back to the region to meet the leaders of Malaysia and Brunei in a bid to shore up our supplies. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joins us now. Good morning to you, Prime Minister.
ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: Good morning.
BARR: If that happens and these Asian countries decide to stop sending us their fuel. Where does that leave Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, one of the benefits of travelling to Singapore is that Singapore was able to show us, by going to the refinery there, of the work that they've been able to achieve, which is to replace that Middle East fuel with the stocks, with stocks from Africa and from the Americas. So, they're very confident that they won't be imposing any export controls. And Australia, of course, is at the front of the queue because of the strong relationship that we've built up with Singapore. But we live in very uncertain times, Nat. We know we wake up in the morning and there's always new news coming through. It's unfortunate that the negotiations for a permanent peace deal and settlement in the Middle East broke down yesterday. We want to see those talks resume. We want to see an end to the conflict in the Middle East and we want to see the Strait of Hormuz opened with freedom of navigation.
SHIRVINGTON: And we want to see petrol prices go down.
PRIME MINISTER: Absolutely.
SHIRVINGTON: Have you got any indication when we're going to be paying less?
PRIME MINISTER: Well, of course, the decision that we made to reduce the fuel excise by 32 cents has made a significant difference. But of course we're not immune. This is a global spike. It's the biggest global spike that has ever happened in history and that's had an impact on inflation and on the price of fuel right around the world. And that is why we want to see and are calling for de-escalation, we have for some time, and we want to see a settlement to this conflict in the Middle East because we're not immune from its impacts.
BARR: One of the questions we're getting asked the most is, 'why does Australia rely so heavily on imported fuel when we have all these natural resources?' We're not self sufficient. And you have to keep flying over everywhere and we have to keep doing these deals. Should we start focusing on our own production? Invest in areas like the Taroom Trough which the the Queensland Premier is talking about, or the Great Australian Bight off South Australia?
PRIME MINISTER: We should look at where we can have more things made in Australia. That's part of our Future Made in Australia agenda. The Great Australian Bight was approved by the former Government, there was exploration. None of the licences taken up because it didn't make commercial sense because of the depth that they would have to go. But there are opportunities –
BARR: Barnaby says it was the Greenies who shot that down.
PRIME MINISTER: No, it didn't. It was licenced when my dear friend Barnaby was the Deputy Prime Minister and nothing happened. He was Deputy Prime Minister twice and nothing happened because it didn't stack up commercially. It wasn't blocked environmentally. That's the fact of what happened there. But four out of six of Australia's fuel refineries closed under the former Government and we kept our reserves in Texas. I mean, thank goodness that we brought the reserves back onshore. And indeed, they were the highest that they'd been for 15 years when this conflict began. And that has been very important. Were that not the case we would have been in real strife from the beginning of this conflict.
SHIRVINGTON: PM, you gave us a National Address last week. You captured the audience. We were all listening, we all wanted some detail but instead you've made a $20 million ad campaign to give us more detail about the crisis, non-crisis, that we're in at the moment. Is that money well spent?
PRIME MINISTER: It is because we need to give people that information. And viewers on Channel 7 will get to see the ad and get to see that we have a four point plan. We're at Level Two now, we don't want to – which is keep the economy moving. That's what we're doing. And indeed the Address to the Nation was about reassuring Australians on where we were at that point in time, countering the misinformation that was out there. And of course we saw people did enjoy their Easter. People did get out and about in a normal way. We've seen a reduction in the panic buying that was occurring and on the weekend, of course, we saw at Gather Round, an enormous success in South Australia with record crowds, record hotel residencies taken up as well. We want to keep the economy moving. That's one of the things with the experience of COVID, we want to avoid that heavy handed action. We want people to go about in a sensible way. And that's why a public information campaign is very important at this point in time.
BARR: Prime Minister, $20 million, it's a lot of money and people are telling us it feels like a waste. I think this is the first time you've come on our show since this crisis began. We would have had you on for free and you could have told everyone, pump up your tyres and use less fuel.
PRIME MINISTER: Well, we're doing all of that. I've done press conferences just about every day, Nat, as you know. I'll do another one later today –
BARR: So, why the advertising campaign, for $20 mil?
PRIME MINISTER: Because we want, because, well, it goes to your network, amongst others, Nat, which is about keeping the economy going and giving people that direct information which is so important at this point in time.
SHIRVINGTON: All right, Prime Minister, thank you so much for your time. All the best over there in Malaysia and Brunei. We need as much fuel as we can get. Good luck.
PRIME MINISTER: We do. Thanks very much, guys. Have a great day.
BARR: Thank you, Prime Minister.