Anthony Albanese’s landmark Address to the Nation tonight will be about actions Australians can take to ease pressure on petrol supplies as the Middle East conflict squeezes global oil reserves.
The address will be broadcast simultaneously across all networks in a format previously reserved for major crises including the COVID pandemic and the global financial crisis.
7NEWS Political Editor Mark Riley says Albanese’s message will be about voluntary actions Australians can take to ease pressure on petrol supplies by being “fuel smart”, including using public transport, carpooling, and rethinking unnecessary travel essentially.
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When you can watch tonight’s address. Credit: 7NEWS The address will not include mandates or petrol rationing after Albanese learnt the lessons of COVID lockdowns.
Riley says the intention is to reassure voters that the federal government has the petrol shortage problem in hand.
He added that the address holds the risk to increase the stress of the nation by telling people not to panic and instead causing the opposite effect.
When Albanese was asked earlier on Wednesday what has changed in the past 24 hours to spark the address, he said the government was preparing for challenges.
“Nothing has changed since yesterday. Neither this government’s resolve to deal with issues of supply and cost of living. There are challenges ahead. But no matter what the world throws at us, we can take action and we will continue to take action,” he said.
Meanwhile, US President Donald Trump is also scheduled to address the American population on Thursday.
Fuel excise cut kicks in The address comes amid warnings drivers will need to wait longer for cheaper fuel as a tax cut might take weeks to start flowing through the bowser.
The federal government’s halving of the fuel tax began on Wednesday, slashing petrol and diesel costs by 26.3 cents a litre in response to soaring prices caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
That equates to $10.50 on a small, 40-litre tank or $21 for Australia’s best-selling new vehicle — the Ford Ranger — which has an 80L tank.
Meanwhile, some petrol stations quickly passed on the reprieve on Wednesday, with one store in Canberra seeing a 30-cent pre-dawn price drop.
“It’s been pretty expensive recently so really good to see the drop,” one motorist said.
“I haven’t been filling up. We’ve been running on empty,” another said.
However, the government said this won’t be the case across the nation and urged motorists to be patient as the excise comes into effect.
“The fuel in the tanks right now has been purchased at the higher rate, and so people should expect it would take somewhere between maybe one and two weeks for the full benefit of the excise to flow through,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers told reporters on Tuesday.
“I want to manage expectations on that front, because people shouldn’t rock up at five past midnight tonight and expect to see the full benefit passed on.”
The $2.5 billion excise cut was designed to give motorist relief and avoid panic buying by bringing down prices. But for some, it had the opposite effect with drivers bringing out jerry cans.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers spoke about the fuel excise. Credit: 7NEWS NSW leads the states with the greatest number of service stations without diesel (247) and 61 without stock.
In Victoria that number drops to 82 stations without diesel, and 40 with no stock.
Queensland follows with 77 servos without diesel, and 39 with no unleaded stock.
The government is pushing laws through the parliament to halve the fuel tax.
The two policies are expected to cost taxpayers $2.55 billion between April and June.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor criticised the government for initially rejecting the coalition’s call for a cut to the excise.
“I want to see lower oil prices. I want to see lower fuel prices at the bowser … and that means you’ve got to reopen the Strait of Hormuz,” he told reporters.
Petrol prices plummet across Sydney as fuel excise cut takes effect Credit: 7NEWS The opposition has supported the US-led war on Iran which has disrupted shipping through one of the world’s biggest oil corridors, sending prices skyrocketing.
NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said petrol prices were likely to trend upwards for as long as the war drags on.
“We’ve broken the record several times, we break it on a daily basis, so cutting the excise won’t take long before those prices get back up and that’s going to be the challenge,” he said.
Economist Saul Eslake said the excise move would be welcome relief for motorists battling high fuel prices, but would likely lead to higher interest rates over the longer term.
“What the government giveth in these circumstances, the Reserve Bank may taketh away,” he told AAP.
Chris Richardson, also an economist, said the cuts would come with a “sting in their tail” as inflation will be kept higher for longer.
Labor will also pause the road-user charge for heavy vehicles for three months, easing some financial pressure on already stretched supply chains.
_ With AAP