Albanese Announces New Loans For Struggling Businesses Under Fuel Crisis

Australia Prime Minister Albanese says the global energy crisis will not weaken Labor’s ambitions for urgent economic reforms, promising the May budget will fight inflation and deliver for Australians who feel the system no longer works for them.

In a major address as the war in Iran wreaks havoc with the Australian economy, the prime minister will tell the National Press Club in Canberra on Thursday that the country was vulnerable before the current crisis and must be better prepared for future international shocks. The new loans will be targeted at the transport and freight sectors, as well as fuel and fertilizer producers. Under the plan, loans financing will begin to flow by the middle of April.

Before the Easter long weekend and with fuel shortages continuing around the country, Albanese will outline the government’s position on the US and Israel’s war and the disruption caused by Iran’s moves to block oil supplies moving through the strait of Hormuz, remarking that the government would work to bring the price of fuel down to make more fuel onshore and shore up struggling international supply chains. He has also distanced himself from US President Donald Trump’s stance, arguing the original objectives of the war had largely been met and lasting regime change would be impossible without American troops on the ground in Iran.