‘Can you imagine’: PM mocks One Nation over fuel crisis

By AAP writers in Canberra

Australia is weathering the Iran war oil crisis but the prime minister says the situation would have been much worse if One Nation was in charge.

As Energy Minister Chris Bowen prepares to give his first weekly fuel update after an extra 16c a litre was added back onto the fuel excises, petrol prices remain below pre-Iran war levels.

Prices for Unleaded 91 were averaging 168.8c a litre in Sydney, where Mr Bowen will address the media on Saturday, according to FuelCheck.

In February, prices averaged 172.6c a litre.

A week earlier, Mr Bowen revealed Australia had 44 days worth of petrol, 37 days worth of diesel and 29 days worth of jet fuel – all more than the nation’s stockpiles on the first day of the war.

That’s largely because of a series of fuel supply deals Australia has struck with trading partners since the outbreak of the war, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese told a summit in Western Sydney on Friday.

The government had leveraged its multicultural connections with countries such as Malaysia to get those deals over the line, which have helped  bring down inflation, he said.

“Can you imagine a Pauline Hanson or the chaotic conglomeration that sits opposite us going into Asia and saying we need support from Singapore, Malaysia, Brunei, China, for jet fuel, Japan and South Korea,” he said.

“I reckon they probably remember what she has said about them.”

One Nation Senator Tyron Whitten said the government was hurting Australians on the cost of living, despite an extra $268 a year in tax cuts from July 1.

“It’s $5 a week, which, yeah, great, but it’s a cup of coffee a week,” he told Sky News on Friday.

“I mean, I think people are hurting more than that, and inflation is going to eat through that in no time.”