Wong rules out lifting sanctions on Russian oil
The government has ruled out lifting sanctions on Russian oil to fill any fuel shortfalls as conflict in the Middle East escalates.
As my colleagues reported yesterday, South Korea and China are considering redirecting jet fuel exports to domestic supply which could leave Australia without.
Penny Wong says that doesn’t mean Australia’s sanctions on Russia are going anywhere.
She told Sky News this morning:
We don’t want to be providing Mr Putin with money to run his war machine, which is enabling … [a] continued attack on Ukraine, and on Ukrainian citizens.
Liberal senator Alex Antic has suggested Australia could loosen some of its restrictions on Russia as shortages are felt across the country. Wong responded, calling it, “Quite a disgrace, given Australia’s national interest, that we have members of the Coalition who are prepared to back in President Putin in this immoral war.”
Key events
Hastie says he’s still ‘open-minded’ on gas tax debate
So where does this leave Andrew Hastie on his “openness” to a gas export windfall tax?
Last week he told Guardian Australia he was “sympathetic to that point of view” to place a 25% windfall tax on gas companies:
I think a lot of people, Australians, feel like the multinationals don’t have a social licence, that they’ve had a really good run of our wealth here, and so I’m sympathetic to that point of view … I just know how important those industries are to Australia, so I’d want to get it right. So, I guess I’m open-minded about those questions.
This morning he said he was open-minded “to a debate”, but that didn’t mean he would ultimately support the idea one way or another.
I said I’m open-minded to a debate. An open mind is for closing on a position. And you know, I’m signalling to people that I’m not just going to dismiss their concerns out of hand. Now, we go through a shadow cabinet process, we go through a party room process, and I’m not getting ahead of that.
I’m simply telling people I’m listening, I’m hearing what you’re saying. That doesn’t mean I’m landing on a position.
‘No issue between us’: Hastie denies tensions with Taylor
Andrew Hastie says things are pretty hunky dory between him and Angus Taylor, after Hastie came out saying he was open to gas windfall taxes, an idea Taylor very quickly shut down yesterday.
Speaking to Sky News this morning, Hastie says claims the opposition leader would formally counsel him were “vexatious”.
He says Taylor is a “great leader”.
[Taylor] said he read my transcript closely, and there was a difference between what was reported and what I actually said on the program. So a lot of people use the media to run an agenda, and Angus is a person who establishes the facts, and that’s why he’s a good leader, because he doesn’t jump ahead of the situation. So we’re in a good place.
Angus is a mate. I’ve spent a lot of time in and out of work with him, and we have a great relationship.
Hastie is asked if the chat was formal or casual, Hastie says it was the latter.
Fuel excise cut will take days or longer to kick in: Bowen
Chris Bowen has urged the public not to “yell” at service stations that don’t immediately reduce their fuel prices after the fuel excise cut kicks in tomorrow.
He says that service stations will have already paid tax on fuel at the bowser, and will be waiting to purchase new fuel with the discounted levy, which can then be passed on to consumers.
Bowen told Sunrise this morning it’ll take a few days at least in the cities for the lower prices to kick in.
The fuel in the tank at the service station might have been there for days. They have already paid the tax. So please, if you turn up tomorrow and the price has not gone down, they are just waiting for the new petrol with the lower tax to come in.
It is really important we do not yell at the poor person behind the counter and say they have not passed on the petrol tax cut yet, because it will take a little while … Days in city areas, it can be a bit longer in regional areas because they have already paid the tax on the petrol in the tank.
NSW government relaxes freight weight limits to save fuel
The New South Wales premier, Chris Minns, has announced his government will relax freight weight limits for freight trucks carrying cargo.
It means trucks will be able to carry more load and do less trips. Minns tells ABC News Breakfast the rules will also be changed to relax the hours that trucks can make deliveries to stores so they can do “more efficient runs”.
[It] means that they can have fewer trips with more tonnage per trip, which we estimate can save between 18 and 35% of the diesel in our economy. It’s a short term measure while we navigate this crisis.
So why doesn’t it happen all the time?
Minns says the measures are cost neutral in the short term, but the heavier the cargo, the worse it is for the roads, meaning roads degrade faster, so it can’t be done permanently.
If we had it in place forever, then it would [degrade roads]. But right now, the urgent priority is to conserve fuel, particularly diesel fuel in our logistic and transport sector. And I mean, we can’t muck around if we’re talking about fuel shortages, and it’s linked to groceries and food. And we want to make this decision early.
What’s the trigger for stage three under the national plan?
The energy minister, Chris Bowen, says we’re still on stage two of the national plan agreed to at yesterday’s national cabinet, reiterating that so far any cancelled fuel shipments have been replaced (he’s referring to the six tankers that he announced were cancelled on 22 March).
The government yesterday revealed a four-stage plan, with triggers.
Speaking to ABC RN Breakfast this morning, Bowen is asked what will trigger stage three?
The trigger … says ongoing supply disruptions mean we will focus on getting fuel where it’s needed most. Now, ongoing supply disruptions really means the fuel supply to Australia has been impacted. That hasn’t happened.
‘We ask for reliability in return’: Wong
Wong says she continues to reach out to counterparts in South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia – key nations where Australia imports fuel, and countries that receive Australia’s gas exports.
While the government hasn’t called it a tit-for-tat situation, it has been sending the message abroad that it’s a reliable partner on gas, and expects the same treatment with fuel.
Wong told ABC AM this morning that she welcomed the statement on fuel signed between Australia and Singapore:
Early on in this conflict, I reached out to counterparts in the region who are our primary suppliers of liquid fuels … I reached out to Korea, to Singapore, to Malaysia, but we’ll continue to do that.
We believe we’re reliable, and we ask for reliability in return.
Wong rules out lifting sanctions on Russian oil
The government has ruled out lifting sanctions on Russian oil to fill any fuel shortfalls as conflict in the Middle East escalates.
As my colleagues reported yesterday, South Korea and China are considering redirecting jet fuel exports to domestic supply which could leave Australia without.
Penny Wong says that doesn’t mean Australia’s sanctions on Russia are going anywhere.
She told Sky News this morning:
We don’t want to be providing Mr Putin with money to run his war machine, which is enabling … [a] continued attack on Ukraine, and on Ukrainian citizens.
Liberal senator Alex Antic has suggested Australia could loosen some of its restrictions on Russia as shortages are felt across the country. Wong responded, calling it, “Quite a disgrace, given Australia’s national interest, that we have members of the Coalition who are prepared to back in President Putin in this immoral war.”
Crisafulli criticises PM’s four-stage fuel security plan
Andrew Messenger
Queensland’s premier David Crisafulli says he doesn’t support “blanket mandates” for work from home and has criticised a four-stage fuel security plan announced by the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, on Monday.
Albanese has not ruled out encouraging or mandating working from home to reduce fuel demand as part of the plan.
Crisafulli, who has pushed the commonwealth to create a national dashboard of information about fuel shortages, said the failure to explain when each level would be adopted or how much fuel is in the country “doesn’t fill people with confidence”.
“There is no world where I support work-from-home mandates; that sends entirely the wrong message,” Crisafulli said at a press conference on Monday evening.
The Queensland premier also argued for “an unrelenting focus” on additional domestic oil production, exploration and stoage so Australia would “not be at the mercy of other nations”.
Asked if he wants Australia to be a net exporter he said:
Well, considering we [are] well under 50% at the moment, that’s a lofty ambition, but let’s just say it’d be good to control our own destiny it wasn’t that long ago that we were … almost double where we were now – it wasn’t that long ago.
Government ‘deeply concerned’ about military escalation in Lebanon
Moving on to the ABC AM program, Penny Wong ruled out any Australian involvement in the war, including to send boots on the ground.
It’s a position the government has held since the beginning of the conflict, that all Australian support to the region (including the deployment of the E7-A wedgetail aircraft) is defensive.
Wong says:
Our posture is defensive, not offensive. We’ve made that very clear and we provided defensive capability when Iran chose to attack countries that … were not party to taking strikes on Iran.
Wong also says the government is deeply concerned about the escalation of conflict in Lebanon.
Last week the foreign affairs minister spoke to her Israeli counterpart, Gideon Sa’ar, where she said the government does “not want to see occupation of southern Lebanon by Israel”.
This morning she reiterated that call:
We remain deeply concerned about escalation in Lebanon, the displacement of so many civilians.
Wong calls for de-escalation in Iran
Penny Wong says the government has “concerns” if the ongoing objective of the war is regime change in Iran.
Speaking to ABC News Breakfast this morning after the prime minister more strongly questioned the objectives of the US remaining in conflict, Wong says many of the military objectives have already been achieved.
She says:
There’s obviously been a lot of military objectives the president has achieved in terms of Iranian air force, Iranian navy, Iran’s military industrial base and its capacity to launch missiles. We believe that it would be a good thing for the global economy and for Australians and certainly for the worl, if we could see de-escalation and these talks lead to a cessation of the conflict.
We have concerns if the objective is regime change, because we have said all along, this is ultimately a matter for the people of Iran.
Wong says the war is having an impact on global energy markets, including in the US.
More than 10,000 Australians return from Middle East
The number of Australians returning from the Middle East since the war broke out in Iran has ticked over 10,000.
The government says 10,372 Australians have now returned home on 103 direct commercial flights.
There are another three flights scheduled to arrive today – one to Melbourne and two to Sydney.
In a statement this morning, the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, said the government is urging deescalation but the conflict is volatile and could “deteriorate rapidly”.
Australians should not delay their departure from the region given the continued uncertainty.
Our message is simple: if you can secure a flight out of the Middle East and it’s safe to travel to the airport, leave now while commercial options are available.
Nino Bucci
Albanese backs US alliance, but wants clarity on Iran from Trump
The prime minister, Anthony Albanese, says the US war in Iran has not damaged Australia’s alliance with the country, despite him wanting the conflict to end or deescalate.
Albanese also said he wanted president Donald Trump to outline “a timeframe or a clearer objective” for the conflict that reflected the economic damage it was causing.
Albanese, speaking to the ABC on Monday night, said while Trump’s objectives were worthy, he wanted a sense of how the conflict could end, and whether those objectives could be met by negotiating, rather than escalation.
He said Australia continued to have positive communication with the US and dismissed a question that the conflict could endanger the alliance.
Albanese also agreed that the third of Trump’s objectives – regime change – had not necessarily been met.
What I’d like to see is a timeframe or a clearer objective. The president said at the beginning of this conflict that it was about three things.
It was about nuclear weapons and making sure that Iran can’t get a nuclear weapon. Secondly, we wanted to damage Iran’s capabilities to attack its neighbours or to assist its proxies in Hamas, Hezbollah and the Houthis and others … but the third was regime change.
I want to see a recognition of the economic damage that this conflict is continuing to result in. And I want to see any objective of what is to be achieved by further conflict rather than negotiation. And I want to see an end or a de-escalation to the conflict there.
Social media platforms investigated for ‘potential non-compliance’
Josh Butler
Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube are being investigated for “potential non-compliance” with the under 16s social media ban, with the Albanese government saying some of their systems to weed out underage users are “unacceptable”.
The eSafety Commission on Tuesday will release an update on compliance with the social media ban, which forbids those under 16 from having accounts with some of the biggest tech platforms.
Guardian Australia understands the report says some of the big tech platforms have been assessed by eSafety as having “unacceptable” systems, with claims that some are allowing children to repeatedly attempt age assurance tests until they pass, are not doing enough to stop banned users from simply creating new accounts, and have poor systems for parents and others to report underage users.
It’s understood that eSafety is investigating potential non-compliance by Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, TikTok and YouTube.
The communications minister, Anika Wells, claimed some of the platforms subject to the rules are seeking to “undermine” the government’s laws.
If eSafety finds these companies have systemically failed to uphold their legal obligations, I expect the commissioner to throw the book at them.
Fines under the social media minimum age laws can reach up to $49.5m.
All of the platforms covered by our social media minimum age requirement said they would respect the law. If these companies want to do business in Australia, they must obey Australian laws.
Krishani Dhanji
Good morning, Krishani Dhanji here with you for another busy sitting day.
Meta, TikTok, Snapchat and YouTube are being investigated for “potential non-compliance” under the social media ban, with the eSafety commissioner releasing a compliance update today.
The government says more than 10,000 Australians have now returned from the Middle East, as the government calls for clarity over the “objectives” of the war – the foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, will be doing the media rounds this morning.
And the prime minister is facing pressure from some of his favourite musicians, penning an open letter to push the government to adopt a new gas export tax.
It’s going to be another busy day, so let’s get stuck in!
