The Albanese government is hopeful the war in the Middle East is “drawing to a close”, as the government seeks to play down concerns over Australia’s fuel supply.
Donald Trump issued a 48-hour ultimatum to Iran on Saturday local time, urging the Islamic Republic reopen the Strait of Hormuz or face “all hell”.
The Republican President earlier stated, in a national address, the United States and Israel’s war on Iran would continue for two to three weeks.
Assistant Immigration Minister Matt Thistlethwaite said, in light of the President’s “timeline”, the government was “hopeful that (the war) is drawing to a close”.
“The original intention of the action against Iran was to destabilise and eliminate the nuclear capacity,” he told Sky News.
“According to the president and US intelligence, that’s been achieved.
“So, we’d like to see on that basis a de-escalation in the conflict and try and return of the Strait of Hormuz to normal as quickly as possible.”
He continued: “He (Mr Trump) believes that this conflict is drawing to a close”.
“Now, obviously, he’s availed himself of all of the intelligence, and the briefings that he’s getting from his military personnel.
“But, if it does continue, we’re putting in place contingencies for our national fuel security plan to ensure that Australians have access to fuel, and that we try and reduce that price pressure as much as possible.”
The Albanese government temporarily slashed the fuel excise twice this week – the latter cut following an agreement by the states and territories over GST windfall.
However, Mr Thistlethwaite said the war would have a “long tail”, and that impacts of the conflict would still be felt in coming months.
The Assistant Minister told Sky News he had been in discussions with southeast Asian nations, where Australian gets “most of our supply”.
“I met last week with the Japanese minister, and requested that supply continue,” he said.
“They’ve given us an assurance that normal supply will continue.
“I’ve done a similar thing with the South Koreans, and they’ve given us assurances, and Singapore as well. They’re our main suppliers.
“But, at the same time, we are starting to diversify … we’re receiving shipments from the United States, as well.
“So, we’re covering all the bases to make sure that we’re diversifying our supply and get as much as we possibly can.”
Energy Minister Chris Bowen said more than 600 stations had run out of at least one type of fuel on Saturday, including 410 without diesel.
The highest number of outages were in NSW, where 182 stations were without diesel and 48 without petrol.
“I encourage people to be sensible, not to take more fuel than you need to fill up when you need to … and to get as much fuel as you normally would,” he said.
US ‘not hostage’ to strait reopening
Liberal Senator Dave Sharma said he believed the conflict would continue only for two to four more weeks.
“I think he wants to get out,” he told Sky News.
“He’s convinced that Iran’s nuclear program has been basically significantly set back and their ballistic missile facilities setback.
“I think he would like to see regime change – he did make an argument that some of that has already happened in his State of the Union address.
“And. he would like to see the Strait of Hormuz open, but I think he’s what he’s trying to do now is not make his operation hostage to the status of Strait of Hormuz.”
Senator Sharma said marine expeditionary forces deployed by the US to the Middle East “gave him (Mr Trump) some options to seize territory”.
“I wouldn’t think that would be a full ground invasion,” he said.
“That might be key islands in the Hormuz Strait that would allow you to control that shipping.”
Senator Sharma disagreed with Liberal frontbencher Andrew Hastie, a staunch critic of the war and Mr Trump.
He said Iran’s ability to “foment instability” and “export terrorism” had been wound back, even if the war ended tomorrow.
It comes after an extraordinary meeting involving Australia, the United Kingdom, and more than 40 allies over the reopening of the Strait of Hormuz.
