Motorists could get a double tank of good news with Iran and the US set to sign a permanent ceasefire deal and the Albanese Government poised to make a call on extending the fuel excise cut to see out the final few rocky months.
Anthony Albanese said his Cabinet would have a decision on the temporary halving of the fuel excise within the next few days.
It is due to jump back up to the regular level of 52.6 cents-a-litre on July 1.
Ministers have consistently played down the idea of extending the relief on petrol prices – which came with a $2.5 billion price tag for three months – with no end in sight to the war.
But on Monday, the Prime Minister said the Government would reassess the situation “over coming days” in light of the news there was now a ceasefire deal.
“We obviously need to make a decision prior to June 30, and we need to do that in advance … so people have appropriate notice,” he told reporters on a building site in Canberra.
“Our ERC (Cabinet’s budget committee) meets regularly. We’ll be doing that at the beginning of next week. We’ll make an appropriate assessment.”
He also pointed out that the first round of “top-up” tax cuts announced ahead of the election last year would kick in from July 1, offering people some more cost-of-living relief.
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor was lukewarm on the idea of extending the excise relief.
“Let’s see what happens to the fuel price over the next little while. It’s come down – the crude oil price at least – has come down overnight and we’d expect that to flow through to the bowser, but let’s see if it’s sustained,” he told reporters at a gas company outside of Alice Springs.
“We’re clearly, potentially, at a real turning point in what we’re seeing in the Middle East that has the potential to have a real impact, but we want to see lower prices at the bowser.”
Pakistan announced early on Monday morning that the negotiations it has been facilitating between the US and Iran had led to a deal, which is set to be signed in Switzerland on Friday.
Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Shebaz Sharif said that the two countries had agreed to the “immediate and permanent termination of military operations on all fronts, including in Lebanon”.
US President Donald Trump confirmed this, although Iranian state media reported that country’s leadership was still discussing its final decision.
While welcoming the news of the peace deal, Mr Albanese cautioned people not to expect it would mean everything would be back to normal immediately.
“We want this agreement to stick because it is in the interests of people in that region to end the military conflict, but it’s also in the interests of the entire world because this conflict on the other side of the world is having an impact here, as it is in every single country,” he said.
“If the war … has ended and the ceasefire sticks, there’ll still be a long period because of what has occurred in the Strait of Hormuz.
“We need to remove the sea mines, which have been planted there.
“We need to make sure, as well, that the ships that are fully laden are able to deliver their cargoes, that could be 30 days to their destination, then an unloading, then travelling back before any new supplies or fuel is able to be loaded on to those ships.
“So whilst we want to see the conflict end, and we hope that that has occurred, we also want to be very conscious of the fact that that doesn’t mean that everything returns to normal in just today, or indeed a week, or even a month – it will be, at a minimum, many months before things return to normal.”
Mr Albanese and Foreign Minister Penny Wong earlier urged all countries involved in the Middle East ceasefire deal to use the chance now to ensure there’s a lasting peace in the region.
Mr Taylor said he still wanted to see the detail of the deal before casting a final judgement but the main thing was to get the vital shipping route through the Strait of Hormuz opened as soon as possible.
“A lasting agreement must be more than a pause in the fighting. It must be durable, enforceable and backed by real action to keep this vital corridor open,” he said.
The Government has been working its diplomatic connections, and leaning on big business to do the same, to secure fuel supplies while the Strait has been closed.
As of Saturday, Australia had 45 days worth of petrol, 39 days worth of diesel and 32 days of jet fuel in its strategic reserves, plus the fuel that is available to buy from service stations and large suppliers.
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