Why the Albanese government is struggling to calm a precarious fuel crisis

March 13, 2026 — 4:03pm

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Prime Minister Anthony Albanese can’t stop Australians filling up jerrycans with petrol and selling it on Facebook Marketplace at a premium.

The oil shock sparked by the US-Israel strikes on Iran, and the theocracy’s subsequent missile barrage, has fuelled panic the world over.

In the Philippines, the government told sweaty office workers to turn air conditioners off. In the UK motorists were advised to stay home if they didn’t need to drive.

Bunnings is out of jerrycans in Australia, but no one is contemplating shutting down schools as is happening in some poorer nations in Asia.

The Albanese government’s decision to release about 20 per cent of its fuel stockpiles, the first time liquid has been taken out of the reserve, is an admission that the nation is in a precarious spot as US President Donald Trump sends wildly mixed messages on when the war will end.

The shock has fed into ministers’ thinking on policy and framing for the budget in May, as high petrol prices drive anger after years of high inflation.

Running on fumes: Dirty fuel to fill gaps amid warnings of $3-a-litre petrol

The sense of national crisis has not been alleviated, however, particularly in the........

© The Age