More than 100 fuel stations without diesel in NSW as shortages grow
Penry Buckley
At least 107 fuel stations in NSW do not have any diesel, while 42 have no fuel at all amid supply issues caused by the conflict in the Middle East.
The NSW premier, Chris Minns, confirmed the numbers to reporters this morning. Yesterday, Minns told parliament about 80 stations, primarily independent operators, did not have access to diesel, and about 40 did not have any fuel, urging consumers not to panic buy. On Monday, the government said about 32 out of 3,000 fuel stations in the state were experiencing partial or total shortages.
Minns, who has been reluctant to discuss contingency plans publicly, was asked today about the government’s potential use of emergency rationing powers. He said: “We’re preparing for every eventuality, but I don’t want to jump the gun.”
Under the state’s Energy and Utilities Administration Act, the premier has the power to declare an “energy supply emergency” if fuel supply is “disrupted to a significant degree” in all of part of the state.
The energy minister, Penny Sharpe, would be given wide-ranging powers to control the distribution of fuel including directing it to specific regions, ordering suppliers to sell fuel to particular customers and authorising authorities to take control of businesses that supply fuel.
Minns has already flagged contingencies to ensure fuel for hospitals and emergency services, in particular diesel for ambulances and generators. But at a press conference yesterday, he said he did not support measures to prevent trucks from other states filling up in NSW.
double quotation markMy concern about that border protection process is that it will be met with the reciprocal response … I think we’ve got to do this together.
A petrol station in the NSW town of Narrabri on Friday. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/AAPShare
Updated at 23.09 EDT
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Greens want permanent windfall tax
Greens senator David Shoebridge told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing that the Greens would want to see a windfall model for gas companies floated as a potential in reports today, and then it could potentially be legislated in the next sitting fortnight.
He said:
double quotation markIt’s a matter of urgency. We’ve these large gas corporations again making record super profits from a war, and from conflict, and ordinary Australians are paying through the nose for energy.
There is no better time than the next fortnight to legislate for a windfall tax and then let’s make it permanent.
Let’s put some real meaningful tax on the gas industry so we can afford the things we need.
We can start by taxing windfall profits next week and start providing basic relief for Australians in a cost of living crisis.
Uber to lift prices by 6% from next week
Uber has announced it will lift fare prices by an average of 6% across Australia from next week.
It’s said to be a broader pricing adjustment, and not a temporary fuel surcharge, which will result in additional earnings for drivers. The fare increasers will vary across cities and towns, depending on time of day. It will apply to a range of Uber products, excluding Uber Max.
A spokesperson said.
double quotation markFrom next week, we will be updating Uber fares which will increase driver earnings by an average of 6% across Australia. These changes build on work already underway and reflect our ongoing commitment to better supporting driver earnings over time.
We know operating costs, including fuel, remain front of mind for many driver partners, making continued support more important than ever. Alongside these changes, we’ll continue investing in initiatives like our Uber Pro program, which offers discounts on fuel and EV charging, as well as other savings to help reduce expenses.
It follows DiDi earlier this week:
Crisafulli criticises lack of resources for BoM
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, has criticised the federal government for not properly resourcing the Bureau of Metereology.
He told reporters that he wasn’t criticising BoM itself, but he has criticised the resourcing of BoM from both sides of government.
He said:
double quotation markThere’s not sufficient gauges and wind radars in what is a large part of the state….We’re seeing it time and time again.
Whether that’s our friends in the north-west and the south-west of the state, who are trying to determine how high water will rise and how quickly, with limited gauges, whether that’s people in this situation, who don’t know about wind speeds and would love nothing more than to have radars from multiple different angles determining how big a system is and where it’s going, a lack of investment in those resources is challenging.
And I – I won’t take a backward step in that. An investment into that will save lives.
Queensland drivers told not to drive through floodwater
Some areas hit by Cyclone Narelle have seen over 300mm of rain, and Queensland police state disaster coordinator, Chris Stream, has urged drivers not to drive through floodwater.
He said since the start of the season, over 90 rescues have had to be carried out for people driving through flood water, and in one case there were two people who died.
double quotation markTragic set of circumstances, and absolutely avoidable.
Do not let stupidity shorten your life.
Driving into floodwaters can have fatal consequences, and can place emergency services responders and others at risk when they have to rescue you.
Family sheltered from Narelle in shipping container
David Crisafulli said that Archer River in Cook Shire in a period of six hours jumped from 5m to 13m, and water went over the bridge.
Just south of there, there was a family on a cattle station who had to take shelter in a shipping container, he said.
double quotation markWe’re told they’re OK and they have communicated to us they are OK but a difficult situation for them.
He said crews would be going to Coen and Lockhart river to restore power for those still without.
On road closures, he said Peninsula Development road is closed between Laura and Coen and Coen and Weipa.
Road access between Cairns and Cooktown to the Cape communities of Coen, Lockhart River, Aurukun, Weipa, northern peninsula area remains impacted by flooding.
The Burke Development road is closed between Normanton and Chillagoe.
The Mulligan highway is closed, from Cairns and Cooktown and Coen.
Updated at 01.43 EDT
Queensland premier says Narelle direction is ‘good news story’
The Queensland premier, David Crisafulli, is holding a press conference to update on Cyclone Narelle.
He said Narelle has moved west and is sitting 100km north-west of Coen. It crossed on the east coast between Lockhart River and Coen.
He said:
double quotation markIt threaded a needle between both.
While there’s some damage we’ve seen, and some rain and some wind, that’s an incredibly good news story.
Incredibly good news story.
Initial reports are minimal damage, with some trees down, he said.
The water is back on in Coen, but some properties are still without power.
Crisafulli said the system will cross the western part of the Cape later on this evening, and for communities in those areas – particularly Aurukun and Weipa, the intensity will continue to pick up, as well as rainfall.
He said:
double quotation markSo, the challenges remain the same as we saw on the east coast.
Wind, storm surge, rain and then flooding.
But those communities are prepared.
And the reports we’re getting from the ground, we just had an update from all the councils, overwhelmingly, that people are very well prepared, very well prepared for it.
Shadow resources minister invokes Trump phrase in arguing for fuel security
The federal shadow resources minister, Susan McDonald, indicated the Coalition would oppose reported proposals for a new levy to tax windfall gas company profits.
She told ABC’s Afternoon Briefing the government had a $283bn windfall recently and questioned where it had gone.
double quotation markWe are not sure what the government is doing with the resources money it earns.
Resources, gas, two of the biggest dollar earners for the country, we need to continue encouraging additional investment, additional projects, not just because it’s good for us financially, but it’s good for our national security and our national interest.
She said the Coalition alternative is “drill, baby, drill”, which the host, Patricia Karvelas, pointed out is a Trump phrase, and asked where that drilling would happen.
McDonald said more offshore projects should occur like in the Great Australian Bight, “places where we can see great reserves for oil and for gas”, and she does not support world heritage listing for the bight.
Updated at 01.34 EDT
Victorian man charged over role in syndicate to steal high-end Toyotas
A 27-year-old Doveton man has been charged over his alleged role in an international syndicate allegedly stealing high-end Toyotas and exporting them to the United Arab Emirates for profit.
Police intelligence alleges the syndicate stole more than 150 vehicles worth over $20m in Victoria, before relocating them to Queensland, where another 60 vehicles were stolen.
Police allege many of these vehicles were stolen by accessing the vehicle’s onboard computers via wiring.
The man has been charged with conspiracy to commit theft of motor vehicle, theft of motor vehicle, and handling stolen goods in relation to 46 incidents alleged to have occurred between August and September last year.
He was bailed to appear at Melbourne magistrates court on Thursday 26 March.
Investigators seized three motor vehicles, multiple electronic devices and business and banking records from the addresses.
Police will allege the man was using a commercial premises in Cranbourne West as a base of operations where the stolen vehicles were placed into shipping containers.
The shipping containers were then transported to the Port of Melbourne, headed for the UAE.
Investigators believe the companies moving the shipping containers were doing so without the knowledge of what was inside.
The investigation remains ongoing.
Updated at 01.16 EDT
Graham Readfearn
Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle continues to barrel west across Cape York
Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle is weakening but remains a severe category 3 storm as it moves west across Queensland’s Cape York peninsula.
The latest update from the Bureau of Meteorology shows the storm was about 90km north-west of the small town of Coen at 1pm Queensland time, delivering wind gusts up to 185km/h.
A map shows the expected route of Severe Tropical Cyclone Narelle as at 1.45pm AEST. Illustration: Bureau of Meteorology
Narelle is travelling at about 20km/h and is forecast to keep moving west. The next major settlement in Narelle’s way is Aurukun, which lies to the south of the current predicted path.
By tonight, Narelle will hit ocean again over the Gulf of Carpentaria where it is expected to re-intensify to a category 3 system and make landfall late on Saturday night or early Sunday near the island of Anindilyakwa on the Top End’s east coast.
Updated at 01.07 EDT
Cook Shire mayor says local communities have fared well during cyclone
Cook Shire mayor Robyn Holmes said that so far local communities, such as Coen – which was predicted to be worst hit – had fared well.
She said there would be some water restrictions in place in the coming days but did not expect any problems with food supplies.
“We thought it was going to be much worse than it was,” she said.
“I wouldn’t say we’re out of the woods yet because of the flooding though.”
She said Coen had received 89mm of rain overnight, and rivers were rising rapidly.
Authorities said there are currently 11 warnings still in place from Cape York to Cape Melville, but there have been no rescues so far.
“It will be some time before we find out how widespread the destruction is,” Queensland premier David Crisafulli said.
He said parts of far north Queensland were already dealing with swollen catchments from recent prolonged rain.
Updated at 00.55 EDT
Douglas Smith
Still no reports of serious incidents caused by Cyclone Narelle
Queensland Police Service says there have been no rescues or reports of serious incidents by people currently sheltering through Tropical Cyclone Narelle spreading across Cape York as of 2pm local time.
The Bureau of Meteorology confirmed that the cyclone had made landfall as a category four system at 7am near Coen, and had severely impacted communities including Coen, Lockhart River, and Archer River.
People were told to expect strong wind gusts greater than 250 km/h, heavy rain, following and coastal storm surges.
Updated at 00.55 EDT
Australia receives its lowest ranking in the World Happiness Report
Jack Larkin
Australia has fallen four spots in the World Happiness Report to 15th, below countries such as New Zealand, Ireland, Switzerland and Belgium.
The report draws the majority of its data from the Gallup World Poll, which measures the attitudes, behaviours and wellbeing of people from across more than 140 countries.
The explanatory factors in the report include social support, generosity, freedom, perceptions of corruption, healthy life expectancy and GDP per capita.
Australia was one of the top 10 countries in the world for generosity but ranked 44th in the world for freedom. This is the lowest Australia has been on the rankings in the 20 years the report has been published.
The happiest countries were the following:
Finland
Iceland
Denmark
Costa Rica
Sweden
Norway
Netherlands
Israel
Luxembourg
Switzerland
Read about last year’s results here:
Updated at 00.37 EDT
Luca Ittimani
Virgin Australia to hike airfares
Virgin Australia will lift the prices of its airfares as jet fuel prices soar.
A spokesperson for the company said:
double quotation markCosts across the aviation sector continue to rise, now significantly exacerbated by the situation in the Middle East. We are making necessary fare adjustments to reflect these cost pressures.
Virgin did not confirm how big the increase would be.
Virgin Australia Boeing 737 jet sits on the tarmac in Ballina, NSW. Photograph: James D Morgan/Getty Images
Qantas nearly two weeks ago announced international air fares would rise, but not domestic fares. Virgin Australia, Qantas’s main competitor on domestic routes, did not comment on prices hikes at that time.
Virgin had hedged to protect 85% of its fuel costs in the first six months of 2026 from price fluctuations, it reported in February.
Cathay Pacific, AirAsia and Thai Airways are among the airlines to have lifted ticket prices to cover higher jet fuel costs due to sustained disruption to oil supply from the US war on Iran.
Other businesses are also starting to lift prices as fuel costs surge, such as rideshare giant DiDi, with Uber, DoorDash and Australia Post among those weighing whether to add charges.
Updated at 00.41 EDT
Douglas Smith
Family outside Coen weathering cyclone inside shipping containers
On a cattle station 50 kilometres north of Coen, Debbie Jackson, her husband Kevin and their family, and a family friend, are currently inside shipping containers on their property, with the eye of Tropical Cyclone Narelle yet to reach them.
Debbie says her family had been awake all night, when at 3am, the wind started to blow. Around 8am, she says it “really intensified”.
Debbie Jackson’s view on a cattle station 50 kilometres north of Coen. Photograph: Debbie Jackson
Having lived in Cape York for more than four decades, she says she had been through tropical cyclones before, but none like the one they are experiencing right now.
As it passes through, she says:
double quotation markNo one can get here right now. You won’t cross any of the creeks getting here now.
We’ve been through a couple of cyclones but this one is probably the worst one, but you’ve just gotta batten down the hatches and ride it out.
There’s usually a howl, like, you could hear a howl coming before the actual cyclone, but this one, there wasn’t .. it’s just really loud.
We’ve lost roofs there and a tree fell on our unleaded fuel tank, so we have lost all of our unleaded fuel. Not sure if the generator shed is still standing, I’ve gotta wait for the eye (of the cyclone) before we can go and check on that.
Debbie says the property has lost all power, and is currently on “inverter power at the moment because the trees have taken out our power”.
‘We’re fairly lucky,’ Queensland SES says of cyclone impact
Queensland State Emergency Services regional director, Wayne Coutts, says the community response and the impact of the cyclone in northern Queensland had meant the area had been lucky so far.
double quotation markI guess we’re fairly lucky. As the cyclone was fairly narrow and moving reasonably quickly, [it] didn’t go straight over Coen, as we thought it might, but closer to Lockhart than we thought possible.
Again, the communities would be really congratulated on what they’ve done and their preparations as it goes through.
He said there had been no rescues so far.
A flooded road in Coen, Queensland, on Friday. Photograph: Queensland policeShare
Updated at 00.03 EDT
Power restored for most affected by Cyclone Narelle
Emergency services have been providing an update on the situation from Cyclone Narelle in Queensland.
Queensland police’s Supt Kevin Fitzgibbon said in the grand scheme of things, the impact on the ground has been fairly minor, mostly power loss. He said energy supplier Ergon had been doing a good job, and the number of homes without power had decreased from 1,000 to about 100.
He said:
double quotation markThere will be some ongoing disruptions.
Ergon will have to disconnect some power to towns like Wujal Wujal, Ayton and Bloomfield in order to fix the current outage at Rossfield.
There were some brief outages around Hope Vale and Cooktown, but they’ve all been repaired.
Lockhart River has been without power since 9am local time this morning, and Fitzgibbon said Ergon would need to send people out to get it back up and running.
A Queensland police officer in Coen on Friday. Photograph: Queensland policeShare
Updated at 00.43 EDT