Education Minister Clarke – sent by Energy Minister Bowen to do the usual Saturday fuel update – was not well prepared and had to take a journalist’s question about fuel imports in August – October on notice, only a day after the Public Broadcaster ABC was told firsthand by Tehran that Hormuz will remain under the control of Iran.
The context for today’s fuel update is the interview the 7:30 report had with Prof. Mohammad Marandi from the Uni of Tehran the previous evening:
SARAH FERGUSON: Will Iran ever return to the pre-war situation where ships had free passage through the Strait of Hormuz?
MOHAMMAD MARANDI: No, indeed the MOU does say that it is Iran that will normalise the passage through the Strait of Hormuz and in collaboration with Oman, they will determine how things will be carried out in future.
Iran wants the passage of goods and services and products to move through the Strait of Hormuz because that’s how our economy and the
economy of our region grows. We didn’t wage war……
…….Right now, the Iranians want to make sure they control it in future so that the United States can never again use the Persian Gulf as a
platform to attacking our country. The assaults that we saw last night and the night before all came from US spaces or were enabled by the US
presence in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, the Emirates, and Kuwait.
Without its presence in these countries, last night’s attacks wouldn’t have happened. So as long as the Trump regime and the Zionist regime are
a threat to Iran’s national security, Iran will maintain a very heavy presence in this Strait of Hormuz.
SARAH FERGUSON: …… I want to stick to the subjects of the day, that is the breach of the MOU by Iran attacking ships using the southern corridor through the Strait of Hormuz. I want to get one thing clear that Iran will continue to attack ships who use that southern channel through the Strait of Hormuz close to Oman.
MOHAMMAD MARANDI: You’re not very much of a journalist, are you? Iran did not violate the MOU. The United States has been violating the MOU on multiple levels from the beginning, starting from Article 1 and including Article 5 with regards to the Strait of Hormuz.
You know this, I know this, everyone knows this, but since you are Australian and you are affiliated to the state and since you’ve been
supporting genocide in Gaza, I don’t expect anything from you.
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-07-09/is-the-middle-east-ceasefire-over-/106898464
So you would have thought the Australian Energy Minister would say something at his usual Saturday briefing on fuel supplies and update us on how Australia is going to get over this long period of Hormuz being under the control of the IRGC.
But we were disappointed. While waiting the whole morning for the usual Bowen video clip on ABC News, unbeknown to the public, it was the Education Minister who held a Press Conference in front of his electoral office in Bankstown, reading out the data on stock held. The website is normally updated shortly after 9 am but today it was 1 hr late. And there was no cross reference on Bowen’s website to the transcript on the Education Minister’s website. Without AI one would not have found it. So the government was in no hurry and was again not transparent.
Fig 1: Graph from DCCEEW website
https://www.dcceew.gov.au/energy/security/australias-fuel-security/minimum-stockholding-obligation/statistics
MSO increased for Diesel from 2,197 ML to 2,225 ML, for Petrol from 855 ML to 862 ML, unchanged for jet fuel 663 ML
Here is the transcript of the Education Minister (excerpt related to fuels only)
11/7/26
Press Conference – Bankstown
The Hon Jason Clare MP
CLARE: Thanks for coming along. Every week the Government provides an update on fuel reserves. Minister Bowen’s away on leave this week, so I’m going to provide you with the update. Australia currently has 41 days’ worth of petrol on hand, and that’s unchanged from last week, we’ve got 37 days’ worth of diesel and 33 days’ worth of jet fuel. Diesel and jet fuel are down slightly from last week with the usual fluctuations but are still at strong levels.
We currently have 6.1 billion litres of fuel in Australia, in total across all of those fuel types. [see Figs 2-5] That’s more than the 5.3 billion that we had when Iran was first bombed back in February.
We’ve got 54 tankers on the water [Fig 6] to Australia right now and 3.5 billion litres of fuel locked in to be delivered over the next four weeks. So, Australians can continue to have confidence in our fuel security. What this shows is good, solid supply in the face of the uncertainty and the disruption happening on the other side of the world. Happy to take some questions.
JOURNALIST: So how far advanced have we got fuel locked in beyond the four weeks that you mentioned?
CLARE: I don’t have details beyond that, that’s the information that I’ve got, but I’m happy to take that on notice and get some more information for you.
https://ministers.education.gov.au/clare/press-conference-bankstown-0
Timeline graphs
Fig 2: Diesel stock held (incl. offshore) hovers around 3.3 – 3.6 bn Liters
Fig 3: Note the increase in offshore stock, not mentioned by the Education Minister
Fig 4: Jet fuel stock around the 800-900 ML mark
Fig 5: Petrol stock a bit down very likely due to forward filling before fuel excise change
Fig 6: Ships on the way vs shiploads received.
Usually “ship loads received” are updated after each month, but not this time. Why?
And note that again, for a 3rd week in a row, we are not given the forward orders by fuel type, only the total figure. That is why in the following graph there are many question marks.
Fig 7: Forward fuel orders are down from a peak in May
Like in the previous weeks, no update has been provided on the arrival dates of extra (EFA supported) orders. Nor an update on the mysterious reasons why GRAND WINNER 5 is stuck offshore Wollongong since June 2nd.
Fig 8: 3 tankers in ports, 3 LPG tankers waiting offshore and then there is GRAND WINNER 5
https://crudeoilpeak.info/tankers-arriving-and-departing-in-sydney
One journo tries it again:
JOURNALIST: The US president has agreed to more talks with Iran but stressed the ceasefire between the two nations was over. What concerns does the Australian Government hold about the situation in the Middle East?
CLARE: Well, you know, we’re concerned about the impact back at home for Australians, you know. Everybody that puts petrol into their car or diesel into their truck, whether it’s here in Australia or around the world, has seen the real‑life impact of this, so that’s why we’ve called for de‑escalation, it’s why we want the ceasefire to last, it’s why we want to see the war end and things get back to normal as soon as possible.
JOURNALIST: Sorry, I know you’ve sort of touched on this, but do we have enough ships coming with fuel in August, September, October?
CLARE: Oh, look, you know, in terms of beyond the next four weeks, I’m happy to take it on notice and get some more info.
Of course this raises the question about extra fuel orders……
Conclusion:
Another media strategic stop was pulled to avoid critical questions. The Education Minister was not very educative in this instance. One wonders when normal briefings of Energy Minister Bowen will resume in which we are properly informed as asked for in previous posts on this website.
