Australia politics live: PM wants ‘more certainty’ around US objectives in Iran; Coalition criticises fuel excise cut delay as question time under way

Albanese pushes for ‘more certainty’ on objectives and de-escalation of war against IranAlbanese says he wants the de-escalation of war and more certainty over the US’ objectives over the war against Iran. double quotation markAbout the way Donald Trump is prosecuting this war, I want to see more certainty in what the objectives of the war are, and I want to see a de-escalation. At the beginning of the conflict, the objectives were outlined as one, stopping Iran getting a nuclear weapon – agreed and clearly has been achieved; secondly, degrading the opportunity that Iran has for engaging in military action, either overt or through its proxies in Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis – clearly there has been substantial degrading of Iran’s position. The third was regime change, and I think that, very clearly, history tells us that regime change imposed from outside is very difficult. ShareUpdated at 04.26 CESTKey eventsShow key events onlyPlease turn on JavaScript to use this featureLiberal MP, Mary Aldred, is up next and raises concerns about the impact of the fuel crisis on the aged care. The CEO of Ageing Australia Tom Symondson, Aldred says, has warned that due the national fuel crisis, “we are seeing an increase in workers not taking up shifts.”Anthony Albanese lists through the government’s measures – from convening national cabinet to introducing legislation to underwrite fuel shipments, which he calls an “unprecedented action”.He doesn’t directly mention the impact on the aged care sector.He says: double quotation markYou can’t wish away the impact of a war in the Middle East that saw global fuel supplies be reduced. We’ve continued to act each and every day. Had we not had the largest fuel reserves in 15 years, had we continued to have our fuel reserves in the US rather than here, the predicament would have been far worse. ShareJim Chalmers is asked about the need for further housing reformWill the government reform housing tax concessions, asks independent MP Sophie Scamps, who says that YouGov polling from her electorate, released today, shows 62% support reform.Jim Chalmers says the government has “not changed its position on the policies” (no surprises there) but he does acknowledge the “intergenerational issues” in the economy, the housing market and the tax system.He points to tax cuts and the 5% deposit scheme as mechanisms to help young people.He does leave the door open for more, but says any changes are a matter for cabinet. double quotation markWe are working to address some of the intergenerational issues in the budget, in the economy, and in our society more broadly. I agree with the honourable member, who identifies housing and tax as two of the most important areas where the intergenerational issues are most easily observed. When it comes to further steps, in tax policy or housing, the budget is still a little ways away yet and any further changes would be a matter for cabinet in the usual way. ShareUpdated at 05.56 CESTPenry BuckleyMinns cautions consumers to ‘act responsibly’ after fuel excise cutReturning the the NSW premier, Chris Minns says 75 fuel stations in the state are out of all types of fuel as of 9am this morning, and 392 of the 2,414 service stations registered in the FuelCheck compliance platform, or just under one in six, are out of stock of at least one fuel type. And 242 stations are out of diesel or premium diesel.All of those numbers are up since Friday, when 59 stations were out of all types of fuel, 347 were out of stock of one fuel type, and 207 stations were out of diesel.Asked if he is concerned about potential negative impacts of reducing the fuel excise, which economists have warned could worsen shortages, Minns says: double quotation markI’m not taking away anything away from anything, [reducing the excise] is really going to help families, particularly those who have to buy petrol and can’t afford it. We’re already well in advance of the average annual cost of a litre of petrol, but you make a good point, and that is, petrol is expected to drop in the coming days, and we want consumers to act responsibly. Minns is asked again about NSW’s refusal to follow Victoria in offering a month’s free public transport, which the NSW Treasury has estimated would cost $140m a month in foregone Opal revenue. He says: double quotation markThe Victorian plan is for 30 days of free public transport. I’m not seeing any indication out of the Middle East that this will be solved in the next 30 days, and I want to make sure that we’ve got enough resources and money available to help NSW families if we’re in a prolonged situation. ShareUpdated at 05.52 CESTPenry BuckleyNSW premier says final stages of national fuel plan ‘still under consideration’Jumping out of QT for a moment, the NSW premier, Chris Minns, says measures such as fuel rationing or encouraging working from home are “still under consideration” under the final two stages of the commonwealth’s emergency fuel plan.At a press conference earlier following national cabinet, Minns has been asked if stage three and four of the plan, “Taking targeted action” and “Protecting critical services for all Australians”, include measures called for by the International Energy Agency such as encouraging working from home, cutting highway speeds and fuel rationing.“The short answer is, we’re considering some of those measures as part of the phases,” he says. Asked which specific measures were being considered under stages three and four, Minns says: double quotation markLevel three and level four, because we’re not in that phase yet, are still under consideration. But there was a view at national cabinet that the thinking behind them and the thresholds that will trigger it should be released now. And I think that, you know, that’s a balancing act between releasing as much information as possible to the public so that they know what’s coming down the line, whilst being flexible enough to say, well, the circumstances are changing ... I think it makes sense in a dynamic situation. ShareUpdated at 05.54 CESTDarren Chester wants more clarity on how fuel will be prioritised if crisis gets worseDeputy Nationals leader, Darren Chester, quotes the National Farmers Federation which has said “today’s announcements contain no clarity on how fuel will be prioritised if the crisis deepens”.Anthony Albanese says that 20% of Australia’s reserves have already been released and prioritised to regional areas but doesn’t clarify how the fuel will be prioritised if the situation worsens.He says that at the moment, Australia remains at “stage two”, which means fuel is still coming in but some areas are facing supply issues. double quotation markThat doesn’t mean you don’t plan for contingencies and that you don’t be over-prepared for what may occur in the future. The decision we made on Saturday, will allow for the purchase of additional fuels and included in that as well, in addition to that, allows for the purchase potentially of fertiliser should it be available anywhere, and making sure that private sector operators can invest over the odds, effectively, of what they would have before this war began, on the international market. ShareUpdated at 05.50 CESTLiberals continue to push Labor on fuel crisisLiberal MP for Dawson, Andrew Wilcox, is next and says the Kidney Support Network in Mackay says volunteer drivers are being forced off the road by the national fuel crisis, putting renal patients at risk of missing diagnoses.Anthony Albanese says he acknowledges the pressure people are under in dealing with the fuel crisis.He says the government has been “acting quickly” to implement arrangements, including: double quotation markStanding up the national coordination mechanism, meeting of the national oil suppliers emergency committee, starting the national cabinet process, the appointment of Anthea Harris as the fuel supply taskforce coordinator, changes to fuel standards, release of reserves … If you go to a petrol station and can’t fill up, it makes you anxious and we rely upon, in a country like ours, so much, our motor vehicles to get around, which is why we are saying in the fuel security plan, for example, if you can get to work on a train or bus and that is convenient and leave more fuel around, then that is a good thing. ShareUpdated at 05.44 CESTPM acknowledges supply issues at some petrol stationsLiberal MP Simon Kennedy asks the prime minister to confirm that 10% of service stations in NSW have no diesel, and how many service stations have no fuel.The PM acknowledges that there are supply issues for “select petrol stations around Australia” but won’t confirm how many are out of fuel.He says the government’s measures to underwrite fuel shipments are getting more fuel into the country: double quotation markThere are some that have recognised that there is a war going on and that is an impact of the war, as most Australians understand. He then tries to quote Andrew Hastie, who told Insiders that the move to underwrite shipments made sense in principle. Dan Tehan immediately tries to stop the quoting, but he gets overruled and Anthony Albanese continues: double quotation markI know that the manager of opposition business might object to me quoting positively the deputy Liberal leader [Hastie], but I will. He [Hastie] went on to say yes, “I think we need to be doing whatever we can to make sure we have sufficient supply in this country”. ShareUpdated at 06.00 CESTMonique Ryan asks treasurer about fuel price gougingIndependent MP Monique Ryan asks the treasurer how drivers can be sure that retailers will cut prices when the government cuts the fuel excise. She says that despite the government directing the ACCC to crack down on fuel price gouging, price gouging is not actually illegal in Australia.She’s not wrong, price gouging is technically not illegal in Australia. According to the ACCC website, businesses can set their own prices and the watchdog can “investigate and take action where businesses mislead consumers about pricing. This includes on the reasons for a price increase”– ie when businesses lie about why they have increased prices. The ACCC can also investigate businesses involved in “price fixing and other anticompetitive behaviour”.Jim Chalmers says that the government has increased the powers and penalties of the ACCC, so “they can come down like a tonne of bricks on anyone who is doing the wrong thing”. double quotation markWe are coming after sources of some of that gouging that the member is right to be concerned about and so when we came to office we increased penalties, allowed the ACCC to issue on-the-spot fines. ShareUpdated at 05.28 CESTChris Bowen says there are 39 days of petrol supply in Australia’s reserveDuring a dixer, Chris Bowen has given an update on Australia’s minimum stock obligation.View image in fullscreenEnergy minister Chris Bowen speaks during question time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, 30 March, 2026. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPHe says there are: 39 days’ worth of petrol or 6bn litres 30 days’ worth of diesel; and 30 days’ worth of jet fuel or 800m litres. He says refiners and importers are delivering fuel to regional Australia at “record levels”. double quotation markViva, for example, which is the refinery in Geelong, has advised me that their deliveries to regional Australia in the last week are 55% higher than normal. ShareUpdated at 05.57 CESTTim Wilson says Labor ‘followed’ the Coalition’s call for an excise cutShadow treasurer, Tim Wilson, is at the dispatch box next and says the government “followed” the Coalition’s call for a fuel excise cut – which gets a big laugh from the Labor benches (but to be fair Labor did make the decision after the opposition and members of the crossbench were pushing the government on it).Wilson asks the treasurer to confirm that “unlike the Coalition’s plan, there are no inflationary offsets to the government’s excise cut?”Jim Chalmers says he would have thought the opposition could have come up with a “better question”, and says the main difference is “we didn’t forget the heavy vehicle users like those opposite did”. double quotation markSo those opposite called for $1.5bn change, which completely ignored the fact that heavy vehicles were paying 34 cents a litre [for the heavy vehicle road user charge] and that is how they came up with the costing of $1.5[bn] when [it] is more like $2.5bn. Dan Tehan makes a point of order and says Chalmers isn’t answering the question, and isn’t saying what the inflationary offsets are. But Tony Burke rubbishes the criticism and says the opposition was literally asking for a comparison.ShareUpdated at 05.18 CESTIt’s question time and Angus Taylor accuses Labor of being slow to cut fuel exciseThe politics is politicking today – Angus Taylor starts question time and after a long preamble criticising the delay to agree to a fuel excise cut, the opposition leader asks, “why is the prime minister always the last to lead in a national crisis?”In response, Anthony Albanese thanks “the latest leader of the opposition for his question.”Albanese tries to return serve at Taylor, and says the government has been “responding in a coherent, strategic, orderly way.” double quotation markI mean, it’s just beyond comprehension, [this] from the same group that came in here and asked the question one day ‘when will the war end’? They thought that through in tactics and they now pretend that somehow we on this side didn’t acknowledge that there was a war and that it would have an impact which it is right around the world. Despite the snarky start, the rest of Albanese’s answer is given without too much drama, and so far no one is kicked out.ShareUpdated at 05.11 CESTFuel excise cut expected to reduce inflation, Chalmers saysJumping back into the prime minister’s press conference, Jim Chalmers said it’s expected that headline inflation will be reduced by about half a percent due to the fuel excise cut.The excise will be cut in half to 26.3 cents per litre for three months.Chalmers said that modelling will be considered in the budget – which will be handed down on 12 May. double quotation markThe expected impact of what we’re announcing today is to reduce headline inflation by about half of a percentage point through the year to the June quarter of 2026. More broadly, obviously, there is still a price signal in the market. Prices are higher than we would like, when it comes to petrol and diesel. The global oil price has almost doubled since the beginning of the year. It was trading at $116 a barrel last time I looked, [and] it was about $60 at the start of the year. So all of that flows through not just to our scenario planning and our modelling but also obviously our forecast for the budget. View image in fullscreenTreasurer Jim Chalmers at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, 30 March, 2026. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShareUpdated at 04.57 CESTSarah Basford CanalesFarrell not giving up on increasing parliament’s sizeDon Farrell says great Labor leaders have historically increased the size of parliament in Australia, suggesting the Albanese government is still open to expanding the number of federal politicians in Canberra.In an answer to whether Labor was considering increasing representation in parliament, Farrell noted the last time it was increased was under former prime minister Bob Hawke, and before that Ben Chifley. Farrell said: double quotation markIncreasing the size of parliament is what great Labor leaders do. But pressed on whether the minister would pursue changes to add more upper house seats for the territories, Farrell said the proposal didn’t have broad support but he wouldn’t give up just yet. double quotation markI’ve had plenty of disappointments in my life in politics. You get used to disappointments. But look, last time round, when we did the donations reforms, I was told, ‘Look, you’ll never get this through. You know, you haven’t got the support in the parliament to get it through’, and on the last day of the last parliament, we did ... I’m not going to anticipate where it’s going to get to, but I certainly haven’t given up. ShareUpdated at 04.39 CESTSarah Basford CanalesDon Farrell fears US’s global tariffs could outlast Trump presidencyTrade minister Don Farrell fears Donald Trump’s global tariffs could outlive his administration if Democrats decide the trillions in import taxes the US now receives outweighs the increased cost-of-living burden to American consumers.It’s a busy Monday morning in Canberra. While the prime minister and treasurer announced changes following national cabinet this morning, the trade minister addressed the National Press Club to celebrate last week’s green-lighting of a free trade agreement with the European Union.View image in fullscreenMinister for trade and tourism Don Farrell at the National Press Club in Canberra, Monday, 30 March, 2026. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPIn a question about whether the US president’s “fixation” with raising global tariffs against imports into the US will outlast his time in the White House, Farrell said “the Americans realise that their decision to reimpose tariffs will ultimately cost the American consumers”.But the trade minister said he still held concerns the tariffs could ultimately prove too lucrative for successive administrations after Trump’s term ends in 2029.Farrell said: double quotation markI think it will eventually dawn on the Americans that this is the wrong path. Unfortunately, I fear that if they don’t reverse the positions and there’s a change of administration at the next election… The amount of money that these tariffs are raising – bear in mind, Australian companies don’t pay this, this is by and large paid by the importers – my fear is that the Democrats might very well say ‘Look, you know, we can’t give up this’. You know, trillions of dollars [in import taxes]. ShareUpdated at 04.34 CESTAustralia is at stage two, not stage three, of plan, Bowen saysChris Bowen clarifies that Australia is currently at stage two of the plan, which is “keep Australia moving”, and says the country is not yet at stage three.Stage two means that supply is coming in as it should, but that there are localised supply disruptions around the country. Stage three means there is stronger targeted action to get fuel where it needs to be which the PM said earlier, “we hope to avoid”.Bowen says: double quotation markAs the PM has said, we’re at stage two. We hopefully expect to stay at stage two. We certainly don’t expect to move off there for quite a while, because stage three is about when supply is disrupted. And, at this point there’s been no disruption to international supply to Australia. A reporter tries to clarify whether stage three means fuel rationing, but Albanese won’t answer and says to read the plan.He says again that the government is trying to avoid a Covid-style situation. double quotation markWe want the country to not go through what it went through in Covid. What we’re talking about here is responsible action, putting forward a plan and working with Australians, working with different levels of government, working with each other. ShareUpdated at 04.27 CESTAlbanese pushes for ‘more certainty’ on objectives and de-escalation of war against IranAlbanese says he wants the de-escalation of war and more certainty over the US’ objectives over the war against Iran. double quotation markAbout the way Donald Trump is prosecuting this war, I want to see more certainty in what the objectives of the war are, and I want to see a de-escalation. At the beginning of the conflict, the objectives were outlined as one, stopping Iran getting a nuclear weapon – agreed and clearly has been achieved; secondly, degrading the opportunity that Iran has for engaging in military action, either overt or through its proxies in Hezbollah, Hamas and the Houthis – clearly there has been substantial degrading of Iran’s position. The third was regime change, and I think that, very clearly, history tells us that regime change imposed from outside is very difficult. ShareUpdated at 04.26 CEST‘Shiploads of fuel’ are arriving, Albanese saysAlbanese says in March, every single ship that was due to arrive has arrived.For April, there were six ships that were cancelled, but the PM says they have been “more than replaced”, with nine additional ships coming into the country next month.He says there is “more fuel than anticipated”, with even more to come when the additional powers to underwrite fuel shipments, or buying fuel, come into effect. (Those bills were introduced to parliament a short time ago.) double quotation markWe have the legislation that we announced on Saturday and that was introduced today, which is about us procuring, literally, shiploads of fuel. Got to be careful how I say that! – shiploads of fuel arriving. We hope we’re empowering the private sector by making sure that they get the backup, if you like, mitigating the risk which is there is what we’re doing. So the range of measures, as well as the changes that we’ve made to standards of both petrol and diesel. View image in fullscreenAnthony Albanese (right) Jim Chalmers (left) and Chris Bowen speak to the media during a press conference at Parliament House in Canberra, Monday, 30 March, 2026. Photograph: Lukas Coch/AAPShareUpdated at 04.13 CESTPeople should ‘enjoy their Easter’ says PMWith the long weekend around the corner, we’ve heard from tourism operators and caravan parks that families are cancelling their plans due to soaring fuel prices.Albanese says everyone should continue on their Easter plans, and that part of the national plan is to “keep Australia moving”.He says: double quotation markPeople should enjoy their Easter, and it’s important as well that we keep the economy going. Easter is an important time for tourism destinations, for jobs, they rely upon that. And I wish those people of faith as well a holy Easter. It’s an important time. ShareUpdated at 04.01 CESTPM announces four phases of national planThe PM says there are four stages that were agreed to by national cabinet today – they include: Plan and prepare Keeping Australia moving Taking targeted action Protecting critical services for all Australians So what exactly do those mean?Albanese says plan and prepare means monitoring impacts of global factors, the second phase is “where we’re at at the moment”, which is that fuel supply continues to operate but there have been some supply disruptions.The third phase, which the prime minister says “we hope to avoid, but planning for it”, is targeted action, to ensure fuel goes to where its needed most, and potentially adopting voluntary measures to limit fuel use.The fourth phase, Albanese says, is “protecting critical services for all Australians”, which will require government action to “ensure critical users are protected and the economy remains open and operating”.ShareUpdated at 04.00 CEST

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