THE HON ANDREW HASTIE MP
SHADOW MINISTER FOR INDUSTRY AND SOVEREIGN CAPABILITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR CANNING

TRANSCRIPT
INTERVIEW WITH SALLY SARA, ABC RADIO NATIONAL BREAKFAST

Wednesday 18 March 2026

Topics: Fuel security; conflict in the Middle East; President Trump’s Truth Social comments.

E&OE……………………………………

SALLY SARA: Andrew Hastie is the Shadow Minister for Industry and Sovereign Capability and joins me now. Andrew Hastie, welcome back to Breakfast.

ANDREW HASTIE: Good morning, Sally. Good to be with you.

SALLY SARA: Has the government done enough, quickly enough to respond to shortages of fuel in some parts of the country?

ANDREW HASTIE: I think the Albanese government has been slow to acknowledge the potential crisis that we're seeing unfolding. That's why we pushed so hard over the last two weeks, in Parliament during question time, to bring to them realisation that this could be a national crisis. We're already starting to see fuel shortages across the economy, particularly in the regions, particularly with our primary producers. We saw Blue Cap mining, for example, send home a good portion of its workforce and there's a lot of farmers who are quite anxious, along with fishermen as well, who rely upon diesel for their businesses.

SALLY SARA: What are some of the specific actions that you think are needed right now?

ANDREW HASTIE: The thing that we emphasised last week was the government having a plan to mitigate an extended closure of the Strait of Hormuz. I asked the question last week, as did Angus Taylor and others, and they still haven't come up with a plan. I welcome if they are going to call a meeting of the National Cabinet, because we really need to get on top of this. They need to be able to guarantee supply of fuel to the economy, and I think it was the Energy Minister, Chris Bowen, who said yesterday that there's no guarantees of ships out past mid-April. These are the sorts of things they need to be working through, and they need to be picking up the phone to countries like South Korea, Singapore and Malaysia and making sure that we can guarantee supply from those critical refineries.

SALLY SARA: Given the situation and our dependence on oil, do you think Australia should be sending a ship to assist with trying to reopen the Strait of Hormuz?

ANDREW HASTIE: It's almost like we've gone all the way back to 1939 where we only had one refinery in Australia – that's why we invested so heavily in refineries post-World War Two. The lesson was that if you wanted to be self-sufficient in a geopolitical crisis and during a massive rupture, you need to have certain amounts of infrastructure and industry, particularly oil refining, so I think we're learning the hard lesson again. As to the ship, I'd want to know that our sailors have the right counter-drone and counter-missile technology to defeat the Iranians if they're attacked – to defeat any sort of attack from the Iranians – and in December 2023 when President Biden asked us for assistance in the Red Sea, we didn't have that capability. So there'd be no way I'd be willing to send the young Australians into harm's way without the right protection, and I'm not convinced that we have that protection in place. That's for the government to explain.

SALLY SARA: What do you think of these latest remarks in the past few hours from U.S. President Donald Trump singling out Australia and several other nations, saying that the U.S. doesn't need its allies?

ANDREW HASTIE: I thought it was a petulant post from a president under immense pressure. Yesterday, he said – from the Oval Office, I think it was – that he didn't expect the Strait of Hormuz to be closed for this long. Well, as I like to quote Mike Tyson: "everyone has a plan until they get punched in the face," and the enemy always has a vote. So the challenge for the United States now is getting the Strait of Hormuz open because there's going to be a massive oil supply shock to the global economy, but particularly to allies like Australia, Japan and others who depend upon the hydrocarbons exported from the Middle East. This is a big problem, but we weren't consulted on the war – let's be frank about that. We weren't consulted on the war, and our national interest is being served already with our deployment of the E-7A Wedgetail to the UAE, an important Gulf partner. We also have interests that we need to protect in the Indo Pacific as well. One of the key parts of a relationship is reciprocity – we've been a long-standing ally of the United States, we've met our obligations with that alliance framework, we've got a proud history – and I just don't think that's how you treat allies. I think it's a reflection on his character more than us.

SALLY SARA: Reflection on his character, in what way?

ANDREW HASTIE: You don't treat allies like that. Relationships that are long standing – you show respect and I don't think it was a respectful post at all.

SALLY SARA: Is the United States a reliable ally right now for Australia?

ANDREW HASTIE: Institutionally, we are very close. If you look across the institutions – the U.S. military, law enforcement, the cultural ties that we have – we're a very close ally with the United States and will remain so. But this is a president who is very unique in American history – in global history – and he's coming up to two years this November in the role. It's his second and final term, and I'm sure the relationship will continue regardless of who sits in the Oval Office. But I do think Malcolm Turnbull is right this morning. This is a new stage of history; this is a new way of doing business. I think the global rules-based order that we've relied upon for the last 85 years for our security is now dead, and I think it's a wakeup call for Australia that we must take care of things that only we can take care of. We can't outsource our energy security; we can't outsource our Defence Force to other countries – we've got to be able to stand on our own two feet.

SALLY SARA: Andrew Hastie, thank you for joining me this morning.

ANDREW HASTIE: Thanks very much, Sally.

[ENDS]