Source: ABC, the Guardian. Prime Minister has urged the the nation to trade their cars for public transport if they can. Rt Hon Anthony Albanese issued the plea in a rare address to the nation, which was broadcast simultaneously on all radio and television networks on Wednesday evening.
Speaking directly to the public, Anthony Albanese acknowledged that the oil crisis and subsequent spike in petrol prices had “made it hard to be positive”.
He urged Australians to “go about your business and life as normal”.
“Enjoy your Easter,” said the Australian Prime Minister, “and if you’re hitting the road, don’t take more fuel than you need, just fill up like you normally would. Think of others in your community, in the bush and in critical industries,” he said.
“And over the coming weeks, if you can switch to catching the train or bus or tram to work, do so” said Albanese as he also reassured those who need to drive that they can continue to do so.
The global oil crisis continues with no clear end in sight.
The Guardian reports that hundreds of service stations across Australia have run empty, and fuel prices are elevated and oil shipments have been cancelled.
“Australia is battling a fuel crises as Iran’s closure of the strait of Hormuz continues to bite. The federal government has released fuel reserves, cut fuel excise taxes and rolled out a national fuel security plan.”
The average fuel price per litre fell in Asustralia on Wednesday, as the government slashed the fuel excise in half for the next three months.
Mr Albanese announced a cost-of-living relief measure earlier this week, alongside a four-step fuel action plan, agreed to by state and territory leaders during an emergency national cabinet meeting.
Australia is currently in stage two of the government’s plan, and Mr Albanese has said the country is a “substantial” distance from escalating to the third and fourth levels, which will involve more targeted actions to preserve fuel stocks.
The prime minister listed other measures the federal government had taken during his three-and-a-half-minute address, including dropping the road user charge for trucking operations to zero for three months.
“We are working to bring the price of fuel down, to make more fuel here, and to keep it onshore,” he said.
“And get more fuel here, using our strong trading relationships with our region to bring more petrol, diesel and fertiliser to Australia.”
Since the trade their cars for public transport if they can. of the crisis, Mr Albanese has sought to smother rising panic with repeated reassurances that fuel deliveries are arriving as scheduled.
Australia currently has about 30 days’ worth of diesel, 39 of petrol and 30 of jet fuel held in reserve, while all shipments through to May have been secured.
The following months “may not be easy”, Mr Albanese said, adding that no government could promise to eliminate the pressures the war was causing.
“I can promise that we will do everything we can to protect Australia from the worst of it,” he said.
United States President Donald Trump is scheduled to deliver an update on the Iran war in his own address to the nation tomorrow, Australian time.
An Australian prime minister has not interrupted live broadcasts with an address to the nation since Scott Morrison in the early days of the COVID pandemic.
At the time, Mr Morrison sought to
Lreassure the public that Australia was “well prepared” and “well equipped” to deal with the virus.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor responded to Mr Albanese’s message in a short television interview, calling it a “re-run” of an earlier press conference.
“I think we needed more detail and we needed a clear plan,” he told 7 News.
“There was nothing in what the prime minister said tonight or has said during the week that can give them [Australians] the confidence they need to know that we’re in the situation we need to be,” adds the leader of the opposition.
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