THE HON TANYA PLIBERSEK MP
MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES
E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW
SUNRISE
MONDAY, 30 MARCH 2026
Topics: Fuel excise; Fuel supply; Cost of living relief.
NATALIE BARR: For their take, let's bring in Social Services Minister Tanya Plibersek and One Nation MP Barnaby Joyce. Morning to both of you. Tanya, do you think cutting the fuel excise is a good idea?
TANYA PLIBERSEK, MINISTER FOR SOCIAL SERVICES: Look, the Prime Minister is going to be meeting today with state and territory leaders through the second National Cabinet to address this fuel crisis. And I'm sure that they'll be discussing every sensible measure to help families. So far, when it comes to fuel, we've already released 20 per cent of our national stockpile, we've prioritised delivery to regional areas, we've made sure that the ACCC has extra powers to prevent price gouging, we've changed our fuel standards, we're keeping all of our Australian fuel here onshore. The two refineries that are still going, we're making sure that all of that fuel stays here in Australia. And today the Prime Minister has already announced that there'll be new legislation to back fuel companies that want to buy fuel overseas on the market when it becomes available, even if it's very expensive, they'll have government support to do that. So, we understand that this is a really worrying time for people, that the prices are very high, that they're really impacting the family budget. We're happy to do whatever we sensibly can to help with that. And of course, we've got all of our other cost-of-living measures as well, including higher wages that we backed recently and a new tax cut coming on the 1st of July, because we understand that people are feeling the pressure.
BARR: And it sounds like the supply is coming into this country. The prices remain higher than we've seen in so many years. Barnaby, One Nation backslashing the fuel excise. Are you worried about that impacting inflation?
BARNABY JOYCE: I think the really important thing is there that you realise when you cut excise, unless you find the offsets, that's where you're saving money. You're just borrowing more money from overseas, and that ultimately has to come back and be repaid. So, we support cutting the excise as long as you do two things. Take into account the road user charge that the heavy industry- that semi-trailers use, that's got to be dealt with because otherwise they actually, in a perverse way, end up spending more on fuel. And the next thing, of course, is that we show where the savings are. We should go to the Climate Change Department, which is ridiculous, and get rid of that. And you've got massive savings for the Australian people to deal with the cost of living crisis, because the Climate Change Department really makes- exacerbates the cost of living crisis with ridiculous edicts on where you get electricity from and the pressure to shut down the oil refineries, which have been very successful in doing and making our nation vulnerable. But I do want to commend the government--
BARR: Well, it was under your- the last two were under the government that you were in, so.
JOYCE: Really, really stupid decisions-
BARR: In the Morrison Government, the last two oil refineries--
JOYCE: You don't maintain stupid decisions. But I was going to, actually--
BARR: -- were cut when Angus Taylor was the Energy Minister, and it was in your government, so yes, continue Barnaby.
JOYCE: A really stupid, really stupid decision, and it's all to try to condone and, you know, oblige the climate change edicts and czars from overseas, which has really hurt Australia, if you want to know--
BARR: And they weren't making much money.
JOYCE: The price of climate change is. You're living it now through--
BARR: So, are you saying that those oil refineries closed down because of pressure from climate? Not because – if they were making millions and millions of dollars, they still would have just closed down?
JOYCE: Well, let's look at the-
BARR: Because of pressure from the climate people?
JOYCE: That's where we'll move an amendment to get rid of, to get rid of refineries from the safeguard mechanism and other things pertinent to getting cheap fuel or cheaper fuel or cheaper electricity to people. We'll remove them from the safeguard mechanism and see if the government, even in the middle of this crisis, wants to support us. I bet you they don't, because they have a religious zeal for climate change that goes beyond. But going down to the last thing, just the last thing--
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Two things Nat--
JOYCE: --I do support what I do support, unless you want to cut me off from supporting something of the Labor Party. The recent move to get to underwrite, get a cap and collar arrangement on bringing in fuel from Singapore. I support it because I was in communication with the Labor Party about precisely that and talking to senior operatives within the independent market to make sure we did that. So, I commend that and I've commended the Prime Minister personally on that.
BARR: Tanya, your response?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Well, just two very quick things. Barnaby Joyce was Deputy Prime Minister when Altona refinery announced it was going to be closing. So, if only he was in a position to do something about it. And secondly, the safeguard mechanism was introduced by the Coalition government, again, something that Barnaby supported at the time.
JOYCE: Get rid of it.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: We are absolutely- So, you've changed your mind again, Barnaby?
JOYCE: No, no--
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: You're all over the place
BARR: So, let's reinvent history because we know what's happened.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: We are prepared to take--
BARR: Yep. Sorry, Tanya. Yep.
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: We are prepared to take every sensible measure to support families with cost-of-living pressures. We know they're under pressure. We will keep working. Cheaper medicines, cheaper childcare, free TAFE, university debt relief, higher wages, lower taxes, and we will keep working on this fuel crisis. Right around the world, people are experiencing higher fuel prices because of the conflict in the Middle East. We really want to see an end to this conflict as well.
BARR: Okay, we've got the Treasurer on--
JOYCE: If you're going to show where you spend money, you've got to show where you save it.
BARR: --the Treasurer on, coming up after seven, we're going to talk to him about what your government is prepared to do. Let's talk about this, though. More than 60 per cent of Aussies say they hold Donald Trump responsible for rising petrol prices. This is what's hitting people compared to just 14 per cent blaming Anthony Albanese. This is according to a new poll in the Australian Financial Review today. Meanwhile, the Prime Minister's personal dissatisfaction rating has risen in the last- latest Newspoll amid the cost-of-living crunch, 57 per cent unhappy with his performance. Tanya, how would you rate your government's messaging on this fuel crisis?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: I think both our actions and the way we're explaining it to people are going really well at a time that is very, very difficult globally.
BARR: Do you?
MINISTER PLIBERSEK: Like there is nowhere in the world- yeah, there's nowhere in the world that's not experiencing higher fuel prices, Nat. And our government is doing more to deal with those higher fuel prices than many governments around the world. It is a very difficult time. You know that right around the world, prices are up. The conflict in Iran, and particularly the fuel that would normally be coming through the Straits of Hormuz are having an impact on global fuel prices. And we're doing our very best to reassure Australians that the fuel is still coming in. Every boat that was due in in March has come in. The six that were due in in April, that were cancelled, six out of 81 have been more than replaced with new supplies. And this week, we'll introduce legislation to back our fuel companies buying extra fuel on the global market so that we can have extra fuel here. We've got 39 days worth of petrol, we've got 30 days of jet fuel and 30 days of diesel. We want to reassure people that the supplies are still coming.
BARR: Okay, Barnaby. Most Aussies aren't pinning the blame for the fuel crisis on the Prime Minister. Is Donald Trump the real enemy for starting the war and an oil crisis here?
JOYCE: Well, what we have to realise, we are very strong, we rely on the United States for a defence relationship which will protect us in the febrile nature of what is the western Pacific. We have to be very aware of that. And if we start running around screaming at the President of the United States, no matter what you think people see as screaming at the United States, and that's a really foolish thing to do, considering the time will come- remember, President Xi Jinping says he'll take Taiwan by 2027. We are in 2026. And what is happening now, Nat in the, in the Middle East crisis will be exacerbated tenfold in the Taiwan crisis, where we won't be getting fuel, we won't be getting anything. And this has got to be- if we get anything positive out of this, it's a dry run for what will be calamitously worse. And in dealing with that calamitously worse, we need a strong working relationship with the United States of America, and anybody who heads in any sort of different direction is a total and utter fool.
BARR: Right. Okay. Well, as you say, this is not an official response. It's the people of Australia speaking and who they're blaming. Thank you very much. We'll both, see you both next week.
ENDS
