Jim Chalmers

you know, releasing more fuel, working with the regulators and industry to make sure it's get where it's needed most, working with our international partners to make sure that we can secure supply.

We're doing that against the backdrop of these big structural issues in our economy.

Energy is an important one, but not the only one.

The technological...

the aging of our population, the fragmenting of the geopolitical scene, all of this is happening more or less at once.

And what it reminds us is that the agenda that we have in energy, technology, our engagement in the world is more important, not less, because of what we're seeing now.

Look, this is absolutely the key consideration.

And frankly, it's the thing that keeps me awake at night thinking about this, putting together the government's fifth budget with Katie Gallagher and the other colleagues.

And we're running a lot of scenarios.

We're doing a lot of modelling.

And two things matter.

Most of that modelling, the point that you make about the straight really goes to both of them, which is this.

The first thing that matters is when the hot part of the hostilities end.

which could be any day frankly we don't quite know when those hostilities will end but then beyond that how long it takes to get the show back on the road in a global economy thinking about lasting damage to oil and gas infrastructure for example potentially lasting damage to supply chains how long the supply shock and the price shock hangs around particularly in energy but also fertilizer transport costs the cost of pvc and housing and construction there are a whole range of

scenarios and contingencies and modelling that we are doing and it goes to that key question of when will the strait reopen how long will it take given there's been some sea mining activity in the strait as well so those two sets of considerations are key to all of our scenarios that we're working out right now now at some point

We're going to have to put the pencils down on the forecast.

It's always hard to forecast the economy, but especially in particularly volatile and uncertain times that we confront right now.

And so, as you rightly said at the start of your question, ordinarily we take the big decisions in April anyway, and so we're not necessarily behind schedule.

But we'll always need to maintain in this situation a little bit of flexibility because the situation is evolving so rapidly.

If you think about just the other day,