Australia politics as it happened: Treasurer Jim Chalmers responds to latest inflation figures; question time returns to parliament

Thank you for following our live coverage of this afternoon’s events in federal parliament. Here’s what we covered:

• Industry Minister Tim Ayres told the National Press Club that the government’s latest multi-billion dollar industrial bailout, this time of the Rio Tinto aluminium smelter in Gladstone, was necessary to preserve tens of thousands of jobs.
• Energy Minister Chris Bowen provided an update on the number of petrol stations running out of fuel across the country, including 187 stations without diesel in NSW and 134 in Victoria without one or more fuel grades.
• Opposition communications spokesperson Sarah Henderson called the ABC strike an “absolute disgrace” and a danger to emergency services reporting, despite her support of the media union and workers’ right to advocate for their needs.
• Treasurer Jim Chalmers said he expects the war in the Middle East to push inflation up higher for longer after data released today showed it had been steadying before the outbreak of war.
• The government has ruled out any cuts to the fuel excise to provide cost-of-living relief to motorists.

The blog will return tomorrow for the final sitting day of this week. Meanwhile, you can follow our live blog of the ongoing war in the Middle East here.

Australia has enough fuel and stocks are arriving on time, Aged Care Minister Sam Rae has said, after being asked about seniors community transport services being cancelled in regional areas because of the cost of fuel.

Nationals MP Kevin Hogan asked: “In my electorate of Page, community transport providers are warning that without urgent fuel cost support, they will have to reduce services to more than 2000 vulnerable people. What is the minister’s plan to ensure recent rising fuel costs do not result in the loss of these essential services?”

Rae responded: “As the Minister for Climate Change and Energy has confirmed, Australia is fuel secure. Petrol companies have advised us that fuel stocks continue to arrive on time and in the quantities expected now, we continue to closely monitor the impact of prices on aged care providers”.

The minister said there were existing supports available to protect the transport services, which he said were “very important services to older people”.

Following a dramatic expulsion from the chamber, we’ve had a moment of comedy, as Prime Minister Anthony Albanese launched an attack on the Coalition and One Nation, as he referenced an absent Barnaby Joyce.

“Those opposite used to say that they supported free trade. They used to do that, but they’ve just gone backwards,” Albanese said.

“They’re so spooked by the one guy [Joyce] who hasn’t even bothered to turn up today ... that they’re adopting their policies and just trying to be One Nation-lite when it comes to trade and trade issues.”

As Albanese finished the sentence, Joyce re-entered the chamber, wagging his finger at the prime minister to jeers from the government benches.

Joyce called out to the prime minister that while he may not have been in the chamber, he was watching the proceedings on one of the television’s just outside the doors.

“For that tail to wag the dog, Mr Speaker, [Joyce] doesn’t even have to be in the room,” Albanese said.

Question time is due to start at 2pm AEDT today.

As regular readers will know, QT was delayed yesterday due to a historic address to both houses by European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

Watch QT live below.

Thanks for reading our live coverage of the latest inflation figures and other goings-on at Parliament House, Canberra.

Question time is due to start at 2pm.

If you’re just joining us, here’s what you need to know:

• Treasurer Jim Chalmers says treasury modelling to plan for rising oil prices now seems conservative.

  Chalmers told reporters at Parliament House that “more challenging circumstances” than $120 a barrel were now being modelled.

• The government has also once again ruled out cutting the fuel excise to provide motorists some relief at the bowser.

• Chalmers’ press conference came after the latest inflation figures were released. Those numbers – from February – showed inflation was starting to stabilise before the outbreak of the war in Iran, with figures barely budging throughout that month.

• Energy Minister Chris Bowen has accused the Coalition of harvesting people’s data to disseminate “political propaganda” through a website created to allow motorists to report fuel shortages in their area. In turn, the Coalition has attacked Bowen’s leadership and said he is “in over his head”.

• And opposition communications spokesperson Sarah Henderson has called the ABC strike an “absolute disgrace” and a danger to emergency services reporting, despite her support of the media union and workers’ right to advocate for their needs.