3m agoTue 31 Mar 2026 at 8:28pm
Trump’s social media attack of allies ‘not particularly bothersome’: Labor
US President Donald Trump has again attacked American allies over a reluctance to get involved in the Iran war.
In a social media post overnight he wrote that the US “won’t be there to help [allies] anymore and told “all of those countries that can’t get jet fuel” to “build up some delayed courage, go to the Strait [of Hormuz], and just TAKE IT”.
Labor frontbencher Clare O’Neil says on the scale of the “late-night missive” was “nothing particularly out of the ordinary” for Trump.
“These tweets that come out from Donald Trump, you know they come out every few days. It’s not something that we see as particularly bothersome,” she tells Seven.
“I think the main priority for us right now is that we’ve got a considerable conflict that’s been started by the US. It’s having impacts for us here in Australia that are serious and are going to get more serious the longer the war goes on for.”
Shadow Foreign Minister Michaelia Cash, also on the panel, says the message to Australia was “very clear”.
“We must be stronger, more focused and more prepared when it comes to our own fuel security here at home, given in particular, our reliance on the Strait of Hormuz,” she says.
7m agoTue 31 Mar 2026 at 8:24pm
Assistant treasurer ‘confident’ budget can accommodate $2.5b fuel excise cut
Assistant Treasurer Daniel Mulino has defended the decision to halve the fuel excise amid warnings from economists that it could add to inflation.
The decision to slash 26 cents of the cost of petrol will cost tax payers around $2.5 billion. The government has yet to say how it will fund the measure.
But Mulino told ABC’s News Breakfast he was “confident” there was room in the budget for the cost-of-living relief.
“It’s something which we can accommodate within broader budget considerations while keeping overall spending pressures low,” he said.
He says the government is focused on keeping its fiscal settings in line with where the Reserve Bank is headed on monetary policy.
15m agoTue 31 Mar 2026 at 8:15pm
It could take a few days, or weeks, for the cut to fuel excise to reach your service station
Drivers will pay about 26.3 cents less on every litre of fuel they buy for three months after parliament passed legislation to halve the fuel excise last night.
But the government has warned it could be a couple of days, or even weeks, for the estimated $19 a tank saving to flow through.
“It depends really on the turnover of the station,” Labor frontbencher Mark Butler told Nine.
“It will be a few days at those very high turnover stations in the cities but as much as one or two weeks in other communities.”
Butler explained that is because companies pay the levy at the wholesale point rather than at the bowser itself.
20m agoTue 31 Mar 2026 at 8:10pm
What will come of the federal government’s new fertiliser taskforce?
Farmers need fertiliser, and at the moment a lot of it is stuck on ships.
In an effort to shore up supply, the federal government’s committed to underwriting the purchase of fertiliser by the private sector, and will hold off introducing a new export charge on producers for a year.
It’s also created a taskforce, which the National Farmers Federation will sit on.
The organisation’s chief executive Michael Guerin wants the taskforce to expedite financial assistance to farmers in need.
“We would argue we are facing a disaster right now,” he said.
Fertiliser is crucial to Australia’s food bowl, so what does a shortage mean for our food supply?
RMIT University food systems expert Kelly Donati says while we’re not on track to run out of food, it’ll be tighter.
“That might mean that there are particular items that we are not able to buy in the supermarket, or that there might be some rationing of,” she said.
She’s predicting a rise in the cost of food, and believes Australia can prevent food crises in the future by localising supply chains.
36m agoTue 31 Mar 2026 at 7:54pm
Good morning 👋
Hi friends. Welcome to our daily federal politics live blog.
I’m Courtney Gould from the ABC’s Parliament House, here and ready to guide you through the day.
The focus remains on fuel this morning after the parliament last night passed laws to enable the fuel excise to be halved.
However, plans for the states and territories to return windfall GST revenue to reduce petrol prices further have hit a snag.
Let’s just jump straight in.
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