Anthony Albanese flags National Cabinet as States take own measures to cope with fuel crisis

Anthony Albanese has flagged calling another National Cabinet to tackle the fuel crisis as State governments take their own desperate measures to tackle supply chain bottlenecks and service stations running out.

The Prime Minister told Question Time on Wednesday he would convene a gathering of premiers and chief ministers next week “to further co-ordinate the activity that we are taking”.

“Indeed, co-ordinating that activity is important that we have national consistency,” he said under questioning from Nationals MP Anne Webster.

Victoria’s Labor Premier Jacinta Allan on Wednesday called for a national approach to the fuel crisis.

“My very strong view, that I took to National Cabinet last week, is that any consideration of supply management should be co-ordinated at a national level,” she said.

The Federal Labor Government is now also at odds with their own side of politics in NSW, with Energy Minister Bowen on Wednesday rejecting an Opposition call for a mandated reporting of disruption and an immediate redistribution of fuel to areas of need, which could lead to rationing.

The situation in NSW, Australia’s most populated State, is now so dire that one in 13 service stations are out of diesel, including an increasing number in Sydney, while One Nation is warning the global fuel crisis would have more severe economic consequences than COVID lockdowns.

“The ships continue to arrive and the refineries continue to work full pelt for Australians,” Mr Bowen told parliamentary Question Time on Wednesday.

“That does not mean that there aren’t real shortages in rural Australia in particular, and that the supply chain has struggled when demand doubles.”

Mr Bowen, an MP from south-west Sydney, contradicted NSW Premier Chris Minns who told State Parliament on Wednesday that emergency measures would need to be taken if the monthly number of oil tankers arriving in Australia fell below 80.

The call from the leader of Australia’s most populated State was made three days after Mr Bowen told the ABC six ships, out of 81 scheduled for mid-April to mid-May, had been cancelled or deferred.

“The key metric that we are watching from the Commonwealth Government is the number of inbound fuel ships to Australia,” Mr Minns said.

“If the number of those ships that are projected to arrive every month, and there’s 80 per month, if that number starts to fall – then we have to take emergency measures on a graduated basis as that number declines.”

The NSW Premier on Wednesday also announced that his Government would be using its legal powers to compel the major oil companies, supplying 88 per cent of fuel to the State, “to provide information as to how and where they will be distributing fuel, particularly to regional communities”.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not taking emergency measures, and it doesn’t mean that we’re not preparing for a situation that could get gradually worse in the weeks ahead,” Mr Minns said.

One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce on Wednesday stepped up his calls for rationing under the Liquid Fuels Emergency Act, arguing the global oil crisis would be a worse economic shock than COVID lockdowns in 2020 and 2021 and the Global Financial Crisis of 2008.

“He has to pull the trigger. He has to do this today. We need to take a greater control on this,” he told reporters.

“I and One Nation are absolutely flummoxed about the lack of co-ordination, cogency and insight that the Government has to dealing with one of the greatest economic crises that we’ve had our in our time, basically in our political careers.

“This is going to put to bed the financial crisis or the COVID crisis if it continues on this trajectory.”

Australia’s fuel shortage is now being mocked online with Persian-language Tasnim News Agency, affiliated with Iran’s hardline Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, reposting a video from Tuesday of a Gold Coast service station with empty petrol bowsers.

“Petrol and diesel running out in Australia,” Tasnim posted on X. “Hundreds of petrol stations in Australia have completely run out of petrol and diesel.”

The original video, of an independent Hope Energy service station at Biggera Waters, was posted by pro-Russian digital creator John Goodin on Facebook, tagging RT or the Russian-stated owned propaganda unit previously known as Russia Today.

“Hundreds of gas stations in Australia are completely out of fuel and diesel — Energy Minister,” he said. “The country is now preparing for the worst-case scenario. Mad Max: The Beginning.”

One person responded on X: “Mel Gibson can do a true Mad Max sequel. Just wait a couple months for Australia to descend into chaos.”

A spokeswoman for Mr Bowen referred The Nightly to a NewsGuard website pointing to Iranian conspiracy theories since the start of the US and Israel-led war three weeks ago.

The fuel crisis is now sparking talk of new deals with Japan’s Ambassador to Australia, Kazuhiro Suzuki, on Wednesday suggesting a fuel for LNG swap, speaking at a Minerals Council of Australia conference in Canberra.

Japan was last year Australia’s fifth biggest supplier of refined unleaded and Australia’s seventh bigger supplier of diesel.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday admitted his own department’s modelling last week of 5 per cent inflation and crude oil above $US100 a barrel “look pretty conservative now”.

“We’re doing the contingency planning and making sure that we understand best and worst-case scenarios from here,” he told reporters.

“We are constantly working on those twin challenges. We are constantly monitoring and analysing the consequences and potential consequences for Australia.”

In NSW, on in 13 service stations are without diesel, or 187 out of 2417, Mr Bowen told Parliament, while 32 are without any stock at all.

Of the service stations lacking diesel, 78 are in regional NSW while 109 are in metropolitan Sydney.

“So, whereas earlier in the crisis, we saw more regional stations having a lack of diesel, now we’re seeing more Sydney stations,” Mr Minns said.

Queensland has 55 service stations with no diesel and 35 with no regular unleaded, while in Victoria, there are 134 service stations with a “lack of one or more grades”.

The South Australian tally is 49 out of 700, while in Western Australia, it’s six with no stock four with no diesel out of 771.

Tasmania has one with no diesel and six with no unleaded while the Northern Territory, dealing with the aftermath of Cyclone Narelle has no shortages yet.

Canberra has one service station with no diesel but Mr Bowen said they are “normally having that rectified in a matter of hours” in the national capital.