Australia politics live: Treasurer Jim Chalmers responds to latest inflation figures; question time returns to parliament

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Question time is due to start at 2pm AEDT today.

As regular readers will know, QT was delayed yesterday due to a historic address to both houses by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Watch QT live below.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen is giving parliament an update on the latest fuel shortages as the Coalition continues to push the government on the lack of access to petrol at service stations around the country.

Bowen said 187 stations had no diesel in NSW, and 32 had no stock.

“That’s down 19 on yesterday,” Bowen said. “That’s out of a total of 2417 service stations in NSW.”

He said 55 service stations had no diesel in Queensland, and 35 had no regular unleaded, the same as yesterday.

“In Victoria, 134 with a lack of one or more grades. That’s down 28 on the last report,” he said.

Question time is due to start at 2pm AEDT today.

As regular readers will know, QT was delayed yesterday due to a historic address to both houses by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Watch QT live below.

Thanks for reading our live coverage of the latest inflation figures and other goings-on at Parliament House, Canberra.

Question time is due to start at 2pm.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

• Treasurer Jim Chalmers says treasury modelling to plan for rising oil prices now seems conservative.

  Chalmers told reporters at Parliament House that “more challenging circumstances” than $120 a barrel were now being modelled.

• The government has also once again ruled out cutting the fuel excise to provide motorists some relief at the bowser.

• Chalmers’ press conference came after the latest inflation figures were released. Those numbers – from February – showed inflation was starting to stabilise before the outbreak of the war in Iran, with figures barely budging throughout that month.

• Energy Minister Chris Bowen has accused the Coalition of harvesting people’s data to disseminate “political propaganda” through a website created to allow motorists to report fuel shortages in their area. In turn, the Coalition has attacked Bowen’s leadership and said he is “in over his head”.

• And opposition communications spokesperson Sarah Henderson has called the ABC strike an “absolute disgrace” and a danger to emergency services reporting, despite her support of the media union and workers’ right to advocate for their needs.

Industry Minister Tim Ayres has defended the government’s latest bailout of Rio Tinto’s Queensland aluminium smelter, worth $2 billion, announced this morning.

Asked whether persistent handouts to ailing smelters was sustainable, Ayres said the Albanese government’s interventions around the country had preserved tens of thousands of jobs and protected Australian industry.

“I think we’ve demonstrated real discipline in our approach. And I do think that that decision to intervene in central Queensland, while it delivers thousands and thousands of jobs, [it] delivers economic security for that region, connects that industrial region with the Australian economy,” he told the Press Club.

The Coalition has continued its attack on Energy Minister Chris Bowen, as it attempts to paint Labor frontbenchers as responsible for fuel shortages across the country.

Speaking to journalists at Parliament House earlier today, deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume asked: “Where is the plan to deal with [the crisis]? Simply deferring the problem to a national tsar who is yet to come out with a distribution and supply plan, is Chris Bowen abdicating his responsibilities.

“He’s clearly a minister in over his head. We need to hear more from the government to give Australians the confidence and certainty that they need, to make sure that our economy can keep ticking over throughout the troubles in the Middle East.”

Hume maintained that the Coalition’s position of blaming the government was fair, despite the global nature of the issue, saying: “I think it’s quite fair and reasonable to say that the government’s responsibility is to have a plan to deal with the issue.”

She then went on to say:

This is not a government that is in control of the situation. Something different seems to happen every day. Now we’re getting these daily updates from premiers around the country about where those fuel shortages are, just how many petrol stations and bowsers are affected by these shortages. This doesn’t sound like a government that is in control.”

Elsewhere in Canberra today, Industry and Innovation Minister Tim Ayres is speaking at the National Press Club to discuss his vision for a more resilient industrial, research and science policy system.

Ayres, who also holds the science portfolio, said collaboration between government and industry was key to deliver meaningful developments.

Asked about how he planned to rebuild trust with the scientific community after hundreds of jobs were slashed from Australia’s national science agency, Ayres said science was a government priority.

“We’re not shying away from science as a central part of Australia’s democracy,” he said. “That can’t be said of everybody else in the parliament. We’ve got tough decisions to make. We’ll work through those with the research and development community, but science is at the core of what we believe.”

On the new laws Labor is introducing to parliament today to increase fines for petrol price gouging, Chalmers said the measure would help the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission crack down on bad actors.

He said the ACCC hauling in suppliers and retailers to explain price rises was an important part of the process.

“War in the Middle East is no excuse to rip people off. We’ve made that really clear. The ACCC is doing, I think, a terrific job,” he said.

Chalmers again ruled out cutting the fuel excise to provide motorists cost relief at the bowser.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said modelling done by treasury to plan for rising oil prices now seemed conservative.

“When it comes to the scenarios… we asked the Treasury to model a couple of scenarios which look pretty conservative now,” Chalmers told reporters in Canberra.

“One scenario was global oil at 100 bucks a barrel for a shorter period. Another one, 120 bucks a barrel for a longer period.”

He said “more challenging circumstances” were now being modelled.

“We’ve had some discussions with the Treasury about that, but not able to conclude it sufficiently to be able to talk with you about it today.”

Jim Chalmers added that his department was working around the clock to plan contingencies for potential outcomes of the war in Iran:

We are constantly monitoring and analysing the consequences and potential consequences for Australia.

Where that relates to today’s data is pretty obvious. You can understand whether it’s at the petrol bowser or in other ways, what’s happening in the Middle East is a source of considerable upward pressure on inflation, considerable pressure on our supply chains. And addressing those challenges is the key focus of the government.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says he expects the war in the Middle East to push inflation up higher for longer after inflation data released today showed inflation had been steadying before the outbreak of war.

“It’s pleasing to see inflation come off a bit in February, but we don’t get carried away by that because we understand that the inflationary pressures from the war in the Middle East are very substantial,” he told reporters in Canberra.

He said seeing inflation ease in the latest data was an encouraging sign, and reflected a mix of factors including the end of the energy rebates.

“And of course, we had that good news from the regulator about the default market offer, which provides us some encouragement about electricity prices going forward as well.”