CATHERINE MURPHY: This morning, of course there's plenty going on in Federal politics today too. Let's bring in the Resources Minister Madeleine King, who's in Canberra this morning. Good morning, Minister. Let's start with US President Donald Trump and his threat just hours ahead of the deadline for Iran to open the Strait of Hormuz. He says a whole civilisation will die tonight. How worried should we be?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, I mean, I want to be clear, and first let's just say good morning to all your viewers and hello Catherine. But the thing is it's important to not go down the rabbit hole of commenting on every comment that comes out from governments from other nations, and so I'm not going to engage in that this morning. Clearly Australia would like to see the Strait of Hormuz opened but there is conflict and, you know, it's very easy for everyone to see the trouble that's causing right around the world. Australia's not immune but the Government is taking action to make sure we are resilient in the face of such conflict. But to go back to where I started, I think it's - the best path is to let the US President do what he thinks he needs to do in terms of his social media commentary, and meanwhile this Government, this Australian Government, will act in the best interests of all Australians.

CATHERINE MURPHY: Minister, I understand you might not want to get involved in commentary of it, but can you acknowledge that that is very alarming language for Australians to wake up to this morning?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, if Australians are indeed alarmed off the back of this language I would seek to reassure them that their government, the Albanese Labor Government is working every single day to make sure that this economy, that this community of Australia is well insulated from the conflict in the Middle East. The ripple effects do hit here. We've seen it in disruption to supplies to certain goods. But, you know, this is important for viewers to realise that every single day I wake up, my colleagues in the Cabinet and the Ministry wake up and set to work on making sure we can make Australia is a better place for all Australians, and make sure that they are indeed insulated as best as possible from this conflict in the Middle East.

CATHERINE MURPHY: We'll talk about those ripple effects and how to insulate Australians in a moment, but right now as we're hearing that Pakistan is proposing a two-week ceasefire, which the White House is considering. Would the Australian Government support that?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well the Australian Government has been very clear, we support all efforts at de-escalation. And I understand the role Pakistan has been playing as an intermediary in this conflict, and that's a really important role that Pakistan is undertaking. A ceasefire would be welcome, of course it would be. Past that, we would welcome all de-escalation in this conflict.

CATHERINE MURPHY: Let's talk about the Prime Minister's trip to Singapore. He's saying he wants to secure Australia's position and build resilience into the system. What does that mean?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well this means working with partners in the region, and Singapore has been a very important trading partner for Australia for a very long time, through the way we cooperate in financial markets but also in the trade in commodities. Singapore is reliant to a large extent on LNG exports from Australia, and of course we buy refined petroleum from Singapore. And we have a number of other relationships. Indeed my home State, Western Australia, Perth hosts one of Singapore's largest diaspora communities.

CATHERINE MURPHY: Yeah.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: So it's a really important relationship. I've met, and so has Minister Bowen, met with Minister Tan, their Minister for Energy, to talk about how we can work together. And now the Prime Minister will go to Singapore which is, you know, many Australians holiday there as well.

CATHERINE MURPHY: Yes.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: It's a very safe and enjoyable holiday spot. To cement these arrangements.

CATHERINE MURPHY: Minister, is the measure of success for that trip by the Prime Minister the ability to extend our mid May, what we're hear mid May, fuel guarantee? Is that how you'll measure the trip?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: We'll measure the trip in how we establish stronger relationships with Singapore. So we're always working every day to extend that mid May, and indeed that's happening right now. There are work - there is work going on with Export Finance Australia. Minister Bowen has explained this. Over the whole of the Easter holiday, good civil servants at Export Finance Australia working on more arrangements to get more fuel into this country. So Singapore's a really important part of this, but other cargos from other countries are also very important. So we're making sure we diversify that fuel supply and the ability of the Government to support the oil and gas industry in this country to get that supply into Australia.

CATHERINE MURPHY: We spoke to Queensland Premier David Crisafulli earlier in the show. He wants a major gas and oil project at Taroom Trough fast-tracked through the national interest plan. He says that is the solution for fuel security heading into the future. Will you support that?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: I heard the end of Premier Crisafulli's comments and, you know, I agree with every single one of them, well the end of them anyway. What I would say is the Taroom Trough is prospective and it's important. Exploration is being undertaken right now. As that exploration progresses and it moves into further production so to speak, those matters have to be taken as they come toward Federal Government for approval. So if it's commercially viable, it's environmentally viable and it meets other requirements, then this Government of course will support it. But it does have to go through those processes. And the reason those processes are important is to secure the community support for such exploration, but also production of oil. That's really important. I heard Premier Crisafulli talk about the importance of Traditional Owners being part of any such project, and I totally agree with him, and no doubt the Federal Government and the Queensland Government will work very closely together.

CATHERINE MURPHY: And so, Minister, it sounds like you will just go through existing processes and you're not keen to fast track it?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well existing processes have been reformed after years of them being stalled under the Coalition Government. So our reforms to the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Act, you know, went through Parliament really quickly last year in a measured sense, but we did make sure we got those reforms through to go to this exact point, that they are more efficient. We're working with the Queensland Government on making sure we have the settings in place on those environmental approval agreements. So really we need the Government, the Queensland Government to work with the Federal Government to make sure it does happen in a timely way. But those approvals are important.

CATHERINE MURPHY: But you need the Queensland Government to actually fast-track their processes?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: No, I don't want to be confusing, and I am in no way criticising the Queensland Government, I think they're doing good work in their enthusiasm for the Taroom Trough. What we need to do on the EPBC side of things is have State Governments and Federal Governments work together in the shared responsibility of approval. So once we have those agreements done we can move on to individual projects. Having said that, nothing will hold back consideration of individual projects as they come forward to the Federal Government. But they just have to go through a process, and everyone understands that. The commercial operators understand that. That order and thoughtfulness around approvals is really important so that the community can have confidence that when we do drill for oil or for gas, we make it safe for the community and the environment.

CATHERINE MURPHY: Minister, thank you for your time this morning.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: It's a pleasure.