Prime Minister Albanese says a new 'Fuel Supply Taskforce' is already running, and flags that more fuel-security measures will be announced soon.
Australia has established a new Fuel Supply Taskforce aimed at coordinating government action on fuel supplies across the country amid the conflict in the Middle East, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has announced.
It will be chaired by Anthea Harris, the inaugural CEO of the Climate Change Authority in 2012, and most recently the CEO of the Australian Energy Regulator from 2022 to 2025.
The Prime Minister announced the appointment yesterday following a National Cabinet meeting with state and territory leaders, telling media the taskforce had already been up and running for days.
“It's underway, we made this decision a couple of days ago through the National Security Committee [which] has been meeting daily,” Albanese said.
The task force is focused on coordination between federal and state and territory governments on fuel supplies, each of which will appoint an individual to work with the new initiative.
“Every state and territory... will appoint someone to work with Ms Harris to make sure that we maximise the coordinated effort during this time,” Albanese said.
“... To have a single point of contact was a common-sense response.”
A joint media release by Albanese and Minister for Climate Change and Energy, Chris Bowen, said the new group would provide "consistent, coordinated updates to the Commonwealth and States and Territories on our fuel supply outlook as well as our domestic fuel distribution."
It added that it would "[support] State and Territory governments to get fuels to their regions where they are in demand, and act as a single convening point for fuel supply and forward planning."
While the government has already announced a range of responses to the current fuel distribution issues, including releases from the nation's fuel reserves, Albanese flagged that there are more on the horizon.
“My government will be announcing more measures to prepare the nation for supply chain challenges over the coming days and weeks,” Albanese said.
The Government has repeatedly expressed to Australians that the country's supply of fuel currently remains unaffected by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, with Albanese insisting the shortages being reported are due to high demand, not a lack of supply.
“There is not less fuel in Australia today than there was three weeks ago,” the Prime Minister said.
“Every single ship that was due to land here has landed here. There is not less supply. This is an issue, [and] has been an issue, of increased demand.
“Both things in fact can be true. You can have the same amount of fuel that was expected to be here, but because of demand issues and a doubling of demand... that can mean there are shortages in some areas.
“Which is why we need to make sure we coordinate to make sure those distribution issues are dealt with.”
Max is the News Publishing Coordinator for Drive. He enjoys creating engaging digital content, including videos, podcasts, interactive maps, and graphs. Prior to Drive, he studied at Monash University and gained experience working for various publications. He grew up playing Burnout 3: Takedown on the PS2 and was disappointed when real life car races didn’t have the same physics.
