Australia welcomes the agreement by the United States, Israel and Iran to a two-week ceasefire to negotiate a resolution to the conflict in the Middle East.

The Australian Government has been calling for de-escalation and an end to the conflict for some time now.

Iran’s de facto closure of the Strait of Hormuz, coupled with its attacks on commercial vessels, civilian infrastructure, and oil and gas facilities, is causing unprecedented energy supply shocks and impacting oil and fuel prices.

ANTHONY ALBANESE, PRIME MINISTER: I would like to recognise the efforts of Australians over the Easter long weekend to conserve fuel and to get on with life. We saw very few cancellations. That was a good thing. I said last Wednesday night, and then Thursday at the National Press Club, that I wanted people to have a good Easter. And I hope people did, including people here. And for people of faith, I hope that they had a holy Easter as well. It's an important time for Christians on the calendar.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese will travel to Singapore from 9 to 11 April 2026 where he will meet with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong.

Leaders will continue discussions on securing trade in essential supplies, including petroleum oils, such as diesel and liquefied natural gas.

The visit will continue the Government’s regional engagements to keep fuel supply flowing by strengthening fuel access for Australia.

On Good Friday, the Albanese Government is investing to strengthen world-class healthcare for children as part of Melbourne’s Royal Children’s Hospital Good Friday Appeal.

This year marks 95 years of the Good Friday Appeal and 95 years of the Victorian community coming together in support of young patients and their families.

Our Government will provide $2 million to support the Royal Children’s Hospital to improve access to specialised health care for children throughout Victoria, and to expand its health information service for children and young people nationally.

JANE NORMAN, NATIONAL PRESS CLUB DIRECTOR: Prime Minister, thank you for your address today. It's very detailed and lots of questions will be coming from the journalists here today, but I wanted to start by asking about the crisis we're currently in and the wakeup call that I feel it's presented Australia. As you say, we're an island nation. We import the vast majority of our liquid fuels. We're at the end of a very long supply chain.

Today the states and territories agreed to work with the Albanese Government to forgo increased GST revenue on fuel transactions, locking in more relief for motorists.

This will provide another $400 million of fuel relief and will be delivered through additional 10.9 per cent cut to the fuel excise for three months, which is a further 5.7 cents per litre cut.

Combined with the halving of fuel excise already legislated by the Government, the total reduction in excise on petrol and diesel will be 32 cents per litre.

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

I acknowledge all my wonderful colleagues here with us today.

This is a testing time for our nation.

The war in the Middle East has caused the biggest increase in petrol and diesel prices, in history.

Australia is not an active participant in this war.

We did express support for the original objectives: preventing Iran from ever obtaining a nuclear weapon. 

And degrading its capacity to endanger its neighbours.

The Albanese Government is taking strong action to protect Australians, particularly children and young people, from the harms of gambling.

New reforms include restrictions on gambling advertising and a crackdown on dodgy operators to protect vulnerable Australians.

The reforms will minimise children’s exposure to gambling harm by stopping the deluge of advertisements through:

The Albanese Labor Government is bringing forward $6.15 billion in concessional capital to support Australian businesses affected by global disruptions.

This accelerated delivery of funds will help protect local manufacturing and supply chain businesses from market disruptions, and support investments in increased production capability, capacity and decarbonisation efforts.

My fellow Australians.

By nature, we’re an optimistic country.

But I understand that right now it’s hard to be positive.

The war in the Middle East has caused the biggest spike in petrol and diesel prices in history.

Australia is not an active participant in this war.

But all Australians are paying higher prices because of it.

I know that you’re seeing this at the servo and at the supermarket.

And I understand farmers and truckies, small businesses and families are doing it tough.