Television Interview, Today Show

SUBJECTS: Prime Minister’s National Address; Fuel Supply; President Trump’s address

HOST, KARL STEFANOVIC: Well, more now on the Prime Minister's address to the nation. I'm joined now by Deputy PM Richard Marles. Richard, good morning to you.

DEPUTY PRIME MINISTER, RICHARD MARLES: Morning, Karl.

STEFANOVIC: What was last night exactly, other than a complete waste of time?

MARLES: Well, Australians are obviously feeling anxious about what's happening in the war in the Middle East. We've seen the biggest shocks to petrol and diesel prices in history and I think in that moment, it's the right thing to do for the Prime Minister to speak directly to the Australian people. And he was explaining what the government is doing, what the situation is that we face and what may be there to come coming forward.

STEFANOVIC: But if you're going to stop the nation, I mean, at least have something to say, mate.

MARLES: Well, I mean, the Prime Minister obviously made clear that we have halved the fuel excise and what that is meaning is that, you know, in the face of very significant increases in petrol prices, prices right now are coming down as a result of that decision. That, you know, it's an important contribution to helping people dealing with this. But I think the fundamental point, Karl, in a calm way, is for the Prime Minister to be speaking directly to the Australian people at a moment where there is significant anxiety and understandable anxiety about what's playing out in the Middle East and the uncertainty of the future.

STEFANOVIC: And, yeah, look, I just don't think addressing the nation does anything to ease the pain or the anxiety. In fact, it does the opposite. Everyone was panicking yesterday, running around. I stopped the family at dinner last night and all he really said was, stay calm. Since when does stay calm ever work?

MARLES: Well, it is important that people stay calm and I'm glad that you had the family watching the Prime Minister-

STEFANOVIC: Well, I regret it because I didn't learn anything new.

MARLES: Well, as I say, we have halved the fuel excise, we've removed the heavy vehicle road user charge. The Prime Minister made all of that clear last night-

STEFANOVIC: But he'd already done that. I mean-

MARLES: Well, what was important, Karl, was that at a moment of significant anxiety, which is understandably being felt across the country, the Prime Minister was directly addressing the Australian people- and that's exactly what should happen. Addressing them about what the Government's doing and about what Australians can do going forward and about what we can expect to see happen over the coming uncertain weeks and months. And it was an important step for the Prime Minister to take in addressing the country.

STEFANOVIC: I think it did the opposite, I think it just wound people up.

MARLES: Well, I mean, obviously you can have your opinion and that's fair enough, but what the Prime Minister was doing was speaking directly to the Australian people at a moment of significant anxiety. And I think that's exactly what a Prime Minister should do.

STEFANOVIC: Okay, Roger Cook has the tone right. I reckon he declared a state of emergency. Is he wrong?

MARLES: Well, these are powers that exist in Western Australia. We support state governments taking the necessary action that they are, and we support the West Australian government taking the steps that it is taking. You know, what we are doing at the Commonwealth level is to look at all the issues that we can deal with, making sure that we are doing best we can in terms of getting supply to the country, doing what we can in terms of the levers in relation to reducing fuel prices with the fuel excise, and working with the states to have a plan which means that whatever we face in the coming months and that's uncertain, whatever we face, we have a plan to move forward.

STEFANOVIC: So, you support the declaration of a state of emergency in a state?

MARLES: We support the West Australian government taking the specific action it has given, the powers that it specifically has.

STEFANOVIC: So, why is it a state of emergency in Western Australia but not of a state of emergency across the nation?

MARLES: Well, because the Western Australian government has specific powers in relation to this and we support that government taking the steps it has. Look, we on Monday had a National Cabinet with all the state Premiers where we put in place a National Fuel Security Plan. What that does is to look at all the possibilities that might confront us over the coming months and enable us to deal with those in terms of distribution and demand. We've taken a whole range of steps that we've gone through in terms of releasing fuel from the national stockpile, through to underwriting cargoes coming to Australia, through to halving the fuel excise, to deal with the questions of supply and price right now. And we will continue to make decisions in a calm and methodical way based on how this crisis unfolds.

STEFANOVIC: Look, I think the one thing you do have to do is get these fuel companies to release information on the supply chains. That has to be done as of now so that we've got some clarity. When do mandates start?

MARLES: Well, mandates in respect of, Karl?

STEFANOVIC: The amount of supply, the amount that people can take from a bowser.

MARLES: Oh, well, I mean, in terms of the question of how we manage demand, as the National Fuel Security Plan makes clear, we will work through that depending on what circumstances arise. Right now, as the Prime Minister said last night, if you have options to in the coming weeks to not use fuel, take those options. Now, some people have them, others don't but that's where we are at in terms of how we are managing demand. We're not at a point of, you know, doing mandates or other steps in relation to that. But the National Fuel Security Plan sets out a range of possibilities going forward, depending on the extent to which the supply chain and supply is fundamentally disrupted. We are not sure yet as to how that will all play out.

STEFANOVIC: I mean, it looks bleak in South Korea. I mean, I don't know how they're going to send us fuel. But anyway, let's leave that for another day as we get clarity on that. Look, the other national address today is from Donald Trump. Hopefully he's got more to say than Albo. What are you expecting from that?

MARLES: Look, I'm not going to speculate on that, Karl. I mean, obviously we will all be watching very carefully to see what the President has to say, but whatever arises from that, I mean, we will be acting in our national interest in terms of what's playing out in the Middle East and the support, obviously, that we are providing to the defence of countries like the United Arab Emirates. And back here, we will be working on our National Fuel Security Plan to make sure that we meet whatever scenario plays out for Australia.

STEFANOVIC: Bleak times. Richard, thanks for your time. Appreciate it.

MARLES: Thanks, Karl.

ENDS