Former deputy prime minister Barnaby Joyce says he regrets not doing more while in government to secure fuel reserves, as Australia grapples with supply shortages triggered by wars in the Middle East.
Fuel prices have risen sharply amid uncertainty over Iran's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz and Treasurer Jim Chalmers today flagged the flow-on impact could see inflation peak "somewhere between the mid-to-high fours" depending on the duration of the conflict.
The government released about six days' worth of petrol and five days of diesel from its emergency stockpile as part of an internationally coordinated response to the shortage, the first time it had used the reserves since Russia's invasion of Ukraine.