KIERAN GILBERT: Let's go live to Tokyo. I'm joined by the Minister for Resources and Northern Australia, Madeleine King. Minister, you're there for the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Forum. It was off the back of the Donald Trump Anthony Albanese meeting which you were at. Initially, it was meant to be about critical minerals. Obviously, that focus has flipped on its head. It's all about energy supply amid the Iran conflict, isn't it? Those talks that you're at now?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, the talks I was at was the Indo-Pacific Energy Security Forum that was hosted by the governments of Japan and the United States, and while when they were convened a little while ago, we had hoped to focus more on critical minerals and rare earths and the really important supply chains. And indeed we did have those discussions. But there's no doubt there is a very clear focus from all the countries present around global energy supplies as we see this disruption from the Middle East conflict.

KIERAN GILBERT: We supply a lot of LNG to the region, for example, to Korea and Singapore. They provide us a lot of our refined oil. Have you given them a reassurance that the LNG will flow? And in vice-versa, have you got reassurance from them that refined oil will still make its way to Australia in sufficient supply?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Sorry, pardon me, Kieran. We've had a number of bilateral discussions with various ministers, Japan, Korea and Singapore, as well as the wider meeting amongst all the ministers present. And at those meetings we've been very clear that we will remain that trusted supplier of energy security to all of our neighbours that are customers in the Indo-Pacific. In return, our friends who we've traded with now for many decades, you know LNG from us and coal and iron ore and so forth, and refined petroleum products coming back into the country. And what I can say is that we each agree that this interdependence is really very important and must be acknowledged. And without a continuing trusted relationship, you know, that would not be a good thing. But we do have that trusted relationship, and we fully expect after these discussions and after discussions that my colleagues in the cabinet, including the Foreign Minister and of course the Minister for Energy and Climate Change are having with their counterparts, I'm very confident that these suppliers will continue to come to Australia.

KIERAN GILBERT: Okay, that's, that's good to hear. Can I ask you though, about what we need to do in terms of our sovereign capacity? You're the Minister for Northern Australia as well. The Beetaloo Basin has 200 years of gas supply under the soil. Do we need to start getting the industry to rev up even more in terms of providing that sovereignty, the certainty? And second to that, should we be drilling for oil and re-establishing our own domestic refining capacity?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, in relation to the Beetaloo, that's a very important, a very important deposit of gas and there's been a lot of work being done on that through the Pepper Inquiry that the Northern Territory Government did and that still has approvals, processes to go through. Importantly, at this Energy Security Forum, there was an announcement that Tamboran Energy has acquired the other half of the prospects around Beetaloo. So, that will make the pathway more clear. But I would want to be clear that there are still a number of approvals to go through in relation to Beetaloo. But it is a very important source of gas, particularly for the Northern Territory and its development and important rare earths projects like the Arafura project in Alice Springs. So, that will run its course, the Beetaloo, and you know, we look forward to more discussions with Tamboran in relation to that and the Northern Territory Government. In relation to the refining capacity.

KIERAN GILBERT: On oil?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, sorry, getting to that. In relation to refining capacity, we have exploration going on offshore around this country all the time. We were very fortunate as a nation to have the vast oil reserves in the Bass Strait and indeed it was the byproduct of that, the gas that made the basis of Victoria's manufacturing industry. But that has depleted and there's not much crude oil available in Australia. We had six refineries. Indeed, I get to live in Rockingham because my dad was one of the first workers at the BP refinery in Kwinana. Now, under the former government, they let that refinery go under and now we don't have that capacity on the West Coast. That was a refinery built in 1956. It is very, very difficult to bring that kind of industry back into being. So, I heard Angus Taylor's words earlier. I find it absolutely appalling and abysmal and it's not speaking the truth to say that any policies of the former government helped any refinery whatsoever. In fact, their policies ensured their demise. So, the Liberals might want to have a good look at themselves over that. I'm actually quite disgusted about what he said.

KIERAN GILBERT: Well, they're arguing that they put in the reserve to begin with. Is that not true? That expanded reserve that the government's been talking about? Which to be honest, still comes in well short of the International Energy Agency's requirement of 90 days. We're well short of that.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, that minimum reserve, when the Coalition put it into place as government, they held that in Texas. That's very well known and being prosecuted before. That's not very helpful to Australians needing fuel in a time of crisis like we're seeing now. Whereas Minister Bowen has expanded the minimum stockholding obligation, we reformed that in November of last year. The Coalition voted against those reforms. So, it's all very well to go along to a pre-selection media conference in Australia and say one thing, and then the rest of the country knows the truth is that they oversaw the demise of our crude oil refining capacity in this country and, and they should have a think about that because they are responsible. In the meantime, this government has taken action to make sure that minimum stockholding obligation now ensures we have, it was a 1.6 billion litres of fuel. We are well supplied. There has been an increase in demand because people are concerned and I totally get that.

KIERAN GILBERT: Would you like it higher? Would you like to reserve higher? Would you like the reserve higher? Because as I said, the International Energy Agency suggests 90 days. We're only a bit over a month.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: But it is difficult. It's very expensive to have that really high stock holding and we have to make decisions within our budgetary constraints. But really importantly, the stockholding we do have is more than adequate for Australia's needs at this time. We have had of course and we've seen the issues in regional communities and Minister Bowen and our government has addressed that by releasing more fuel into the system and prioritising that getting out into those regional areas to address those concerns. So, this government is taking action, has been taking action since day one as we inherited an energy crisis. And because of our actions and our thoughtful, methodical approach to making sure we have energy security, Australia is well placed to weather this conflict in the Middle East.

KIERAN GILBERT: A couple of quick ones before you go. Would Australia send a naval vessel as part of a convoy through the Strait of Hormuz to protect the oil exports?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Australia's contributions at the moment are well documented. We've been requested to provide assistance to the UAE. We've done that through the provision of the Wedgetail aircraft and air-to-air missiles. And that is our contribution at this time.

KIERAN GILBERT: And not - wouldn't consider going beyond that?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: I know of the requests that have been made, and that is from the UAE and we have met those requests as best we are able to, again through the Wedgetail aircraft and the air-to-air missiles. And that's a significant defensive contribution to this conflict.

KIERAN GILBERT: Yeah. Is it because our navy doesn't have the resources to step up to a Trump demand, or request if he were to extend that to us?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Look, Kieran, I'm only going to talk about the requests I'm aware of and that is the request from the UAE to – and we did respond and provided the aircraft and the air-to-air missiles. As you know, HMAS Stirling is in my electorate. I'm a neighbour. It is a very well prepared naval base, the biggest in the country. I'm very proud to be the local member for HMAS Sterling and I know they always stand ready to serve.

KIERAN GILBERT: Madeleine King joining us live from Tokyo. Thank you.