JOURNALIST: Minister, are we heading for a gas supply crash with the Middle East conflict holding up key shipping routes?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Australia is very well supplied for gas at this time, and the ACCC and AEMO have confirmed this. This government took really swift action when we first came into government in 2022. We were in the midst of a gas crisis at that point. So, all the policies we brought together at that time and the few months afterwards mean we have a much more resilient energy and gas market system. So, the extra petajoules that we brought in, but also strengthening the ADGSM so it’s much more flexible and can be used more regularly to react to crisis. That means we’ve got that important backstop, but also, we have ensured there is more supply online. Of course, we had the Gas Market Review. We announced the domestic gas reservation policy, which we’re working on right now. There are a few things that are different from four years ago, and that is we’re not quite in the depths of winter, there is more gas in the international market out of Canada and the US as well. So, we are well supplied. We expect that to remain the place, but we keep a really watchful eye.

JOURNALIST: Minister --

JOURNALIST: What about fertiliser? Is that also an issue given that, you know, that will also have impacts not necessarily now but on agriculture in the months [indistinct]?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, absolutely. Australia is reliant on imports of urea, which is the nitrogen part of NPK fertiliser that goes into - well, people’s backyards but mostly, of course, farming and food production in this country. So, we - half of our urea imports do come through the Strait of Hormuz, so we expect they will be affected a bit, but then there’s still the other half that will come from other, other places. And there are stockpiles around the country that the companies that process it keep.

Really importantly, though, we have built resilience into the system. There is a urea project underway right now, the Perdaman Urea Project in Karratha, which is a $6.5 billion project. The Australian Government has put hundreds of millions of dollars of support through the Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility into the Perdaman Urea Project. That will be producing urea and make us basically independent in terms of that fertiliser component, starting between March and June of next year.

JOURNALIST: But is it likely we could see shortages in the short term as a potential [indistinct] the crisis?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: We’ll keep a really watchful eye on that. As I said, there are many supplies of urea dotted around the fertiliser manufacturers of this country. We will be speaking to each of them to make sure we know exactly what the stock is. We saw a number of years ago, there was an issue with urea that goes into AdBlue, the diesel fuel additive to bring down emissions. So, it’s important for that as well. But what we know is that, you know, I know it’s about a year away, but we do have a really solid plan for basically a permanent supply of urea for Australian farmers.

JOURNALIST: Minister--

JOURNALIST: [indistinct]

JOURNALIST: Nah, you go mate.

JOURNALIST: Oh, behind the International Energy Agency’s 90 days of stocks to cover emergencies. What investment is the government making in boosting Australia’s sovereign fuel refining capacity?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, we are well supplied for fuel, and we have met our obligations to the IEA. We - it is harder to store refined fuel than it is crude oil, so it does have to keep moving. But we have to keep a watchful eye on all of these products. You know, the moment is in great flux in Iran. The Strait of Hormuz, you know, really important to global trade. We just generally have concern because there’s this conflict going on, but really importantly, we are confident in our fuel supply at this stage.

JOURNALIST: The 2025 and 2026 was a really bad year for Australia’s fledgling hydrogen sector - just a slightly different topic.

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: I’ll say.

JOURNALIST: Are you confident, by the time that your hydrogen production tax credits come in, that there’s going to be demand for it? I mean, projects are being cancelled, mothballed. We’ve seen projects put on hold that just are still in the planning processes. You know, is that going to cost as much as we think it is, or is it --

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Yeah, the thing about a production tax credit is it is an incentive to produce, but it’s also a reward for your own investment and getting it off the ground. So, if these projects don’t go ahead for whatever reason - and there may be a number of reasons - then that does lower the cost to government.

Look, I’ll admit, I’m much more experienced with the critical minerals production tax credit and the critical minerals projects, so I could probably talk more to that. But having said that, hydrogen is going to be a really important source for alternate energy. It is a challenging technology. But that’s no reason to give up on it, and we’ll pursue these incentives, because we do want to see hydrogen as an energy supply, as a green energy supply, being successful in this country.

JOURNALIST: Just back to the East Coast Gas Reservation scheme, do crises like this bolster the need for such a scheme in Australia? And are we likely to see more details about the actual [indistinct] of the scheme?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Well, there’s no doubt a reserve reservation for gas but also for critical minerals. The reservation we’re working on is about building resilience in supply, and making sure Australian manufacturers but Australian consumers have the gas they need at affordable prices. So, there’s no doubt when we see global shocks like this, it really is - I guess it says to me we made the right decision to go down this path. And I speak with the gas industry very frequently. They’re behind this, too, and we’re working on the consultation you asked about. It’s really complex trying to make sure it’s flexible to meet everyone’s needs while we’re making sure we keep having investment into the gas industry, we keep having production, and we keep the all-important supply at a reasonable price. We’re working on all of that, and we’re really keen to have really in-depth consultation with the gas industry itself because they have to work within this for the benefit of the Australian people.

JOURNALIST: Quickly, as well, on critical minerals and Canada’s Prime Minister, what does Australia have to gain by a relationship, a greater strategic relationship, with Canada on critical minerals?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: We have a lot to gain from working with Canada. And I am very much looking forward to meeting Prime Minister Carney. I work with the Canadian Minister for Resources, Minister Tim Hodgson, frequently. We speak frequently. Canada and Australia share that geological advantage of having these resources available to us. We are two producer nations that export around the world. So - and we also have very high standards of production environmentally but also labour standards and safety standards. So, working together on making sure that those standards are reflected in price for critical minerals and rare earths is going to be really important. I’ve signed a strategic letter of intent with Minister Hodgson last year when I was in Toronto, and I expect we will have more to say on this shortly.

JOURNALIST: Just quickly, the ACTU, do you have a view on their proposal to increase annual leave by another week every year?

MINISTER MADELEINE KING: Not particularly. You know, the ACTU are great advocates for workers in this country, and they always participate in policy debates. And I welcome their participation in these debates.

Thanks.