An extra 250,000 tonnes of agricultural-grade urea for fertiliser will come to Australia from Indonesia, under a new deal supported by the federal government.
That’s around 20% of the fertiliser needed for the current planting season for Australian farmers, according to the Albanese government.
The arrangement was agreed by Incitec Pivot Fertilisers and PT Pupuk Indonesia, and supported by the Australian and Indonesian governments. The Albanese government has been seeking to support extra fuel and fertiliser supplies to replace those disrupted or cancelled by the Middle East conflict, with the news coming a day after the prime minister announced 100 million extra litres of diesel contracted from South Korea and Brunei.
That amount is little over a day’s worth of the diesel Australia consumes, but Anthony Albanese has foreshadowed more deals coming soon.
“This is a significant outcome for our farmers. We understand how critical fertiliser is for Australian farmers, for our food production system and the food security of our region,” Albanese said of the fertiliser news.
This deal also shows why it’s critically important that we have strong relationships with our regional partners.
Agriculture minister Julie Collins said the government had been “working day and night” to secure more fertiliser supply.
While this is a commercial deal, the Australian and Indonesian Governments have been working to support this positive outcome … This will mean Australia can continue to play an important role supporting food security in Indonesia and our region at a time of global uncertainty.
Anthony Albanese cut short his fuel security visit to Malaysia last night after a massive fire at one of Australia’s two remaining fuel refineries.
The prime minister had been scheduled to arrive back in Sydney late tonight, but instead flew through the night to visit Geelong early this morning.
He will visit the Viva Energy site with the energy minister, Chris Bowen, and the defence minister and local MP, Richard Marles.
While the fire only damaged part of the facility, there are fears it could add to fuel shortages from the war in Iran, particularly in parts of Victoria.
An assessment of the fire’s impact on fuel supply is expected in coming days.
Good morning and welcome to our live news blog. I’m Martin Farrer with the top overnight stories and then it’ll be Catie McLeod with the main action.
Anthony Albanese cut short his fuel security visit to Malaysia last night after a massive fire at one of Australia’s two remaining fuel refineries. He will visit the Geelong refinery this morning. We’ll bring you updates about that through the morning.
An extra 250,000 tonnes of agricultural-grade urea for fertiliser will come to Australia from Indonesia under a new deal supported by the federal government. More details coming up.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: theguardian.com
