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The prime minister signed a joint statement with Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah\u00a0 (AAP: Bianca de Marchi)Read more in this report by ABC foreign affairs correspondent\u00a0Stephen Dziedzic:<\/p>\nJust nowWed 15 Apr 2026 at 10:25pm<\/p>\n
PM’s Malaysia visit follows 24 hours in Brunei<\/p>\n
By Pool reporter Zac de Silva<\/p>\n
The prime minister’s talks in Malaysia today follow a 24-hour visit to Brunei, during which Albanese received a guarantee the tiny sultanate was not considering restricting the amount of fuel or fertiliser shipped to Australia.<\/p>\n
In exchange, Australia \u2014 which is Brunei’s largest trading partner \u2014 will continue to provide crucial food shipments.<\/p>\n
Brunei supplies around 11 per cent of Australia’s fertiliser. In 2024, Australia supplied around three-quarters of the Brunei’s meat imports.<\/p>\n
The prime minister signed a joint statement with Brunei’s Sultan Haji Hassanal Bolkiah\u00a0 (AAP: Bianca de Marchi)Read more in this report by ABC foreign affairs correspondent\u00a0Stephen Dziedzic:<\/p>\n
30m agoWed 15 Apr 2026 at 9:55pm<\/p>\n
Bowen says about 2% of service stations without diesel<\/p>\n
Energy Minister Chris Bowen has given an update on Australia’s current fuel stocks.<\/p>\n
“Domestically, we’re still seeing around 2 per cent of service stations without diesel \u2014 so that’s been very good progress,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Obviously, we want to see that come down to 0 per cent, but we are still dealing with the overhang of very high demand.<\/p>\n
“We have 57 ships on their way to Australia.\u00a0Some of them have arrived this week.<\/p>\n
\u00a0“Also, we have locked in 4.1 billion litres of supply of crude oil, diesel, petrol, jet fuel over the next four weeks.”<\/p>\n
Bowen says he’ll provide more detail on Saturday, as part of his weekly update on Australia’s fuel supply.<\/p>\n
37m agoWed 15 Apr 2026 at 9:48pm<\/p>\n
Australia making ‘very good progress’ on fuel imports, Bowen says<\/p>\n
Chris Bowen says while the fire is “not great timing \u2026 what’s important is we come together and manage this”.<\/p>\n
“It’s important, as we’ve always said, that people buy as much fuel as they need, but no more, no less,” he told ABC News Breakfast.<\/p>\n
“We continue to make very good progress internationally on the imports to Australia, which is the majority of fuel that we consume.<\/p>\n
“This is a febrile international environment, fast\u2013changing. Rays of sunshine and then setbacks in terms of the geopolitical environment in the Middle East.”<\/p>\n
Bowen said the government had been working closely with Australia’s two refineries, while also working to shore up more supply \u2014 pointing to the PM’s efforts in south-east Asia this week.<\/p>\n
49m agoWed 15 Apr 2026 at 9:37pm<\/p>\n
Geelong fire mostly impacting petrol production, Bowen says<\/p>\n
Energy Minister Chris Bowen is providing an update on the fire at the Viva Energy oil refinery in Geelong.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He says the facility is still producing diesel and jet fuel but “at reduced levels, as a precaution”, as authorities battle to get the fire under control.<\/p>\n
“The major impact at this point appears to be more on petrol production,” he said on ABC News Breakfast.<\/p>\n
54m agoWed 15 Apr 2026 at 9:31pm<\/p>\n
O’Brien says Australia needs to start drilling for oil ‘immediately’<\/p>\n
Ted O’Brien has been asked if successive governments have let Australia down by not holding onto more oil refineries.\u00a0<\/p>\n
He acknowledged multiple refineries had closed down over the years under both Labor and Coalition governments, but said the problem stemmed from not mining enough of Australia’s oil.<\/p>\n
“One of the real problems we have is we have such blockage around the drilling for oil in Australia,” he said.<\/p>\n
“Unless we can unlock our capacity on oil, it undercuts the business case for having more refineries.<\/p>\n
“It’s not just a matter of having refinery capability, it’s also about ensuring we go upstream and unlock the oil we have under our feet.<\/p>\n
“We need to start drilling immediately”.<\/p>\n
1h agoWed 15 Apr 2026 at 9:05pm<\/p>\n
Welcome to today’s blog \ud83d\udc4b<\/p>\n
Good morning and thank you for joining us on today’s blog.<\/p>\n
I’m Annabel Bowles, here to bring you the latest federal politics news.<\/p>\n
Anthony Albanese\u00a0is heading into the last official day of his overseas campaign to shore up Australia’s fuel supplies.<\/p>\n
Today he’ll have a one-on-one meeting with\u00a0Malaysian Prime Minister\u00a0Anwar Ibrahim\u00a0in Kuala Lumpur, plus talks with the head of a global oil giant.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile,\u00a0Treasurer Jim Chalmers is in Washington for high-level\u00a0economic\u00a0talks at the International Monetary Fund.<\/p>\n
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