Government doesn't rule out fuel rationing possibility, but says supplies still arriving as normal

The federal government has effectively admitted there is a possibility of fuel rationing if the war in Iran continues for far longer than expected, but insists there is no reason to resort to panic-buying, with supply continuing to come into the country as normal.

On the same day as the country's major fuel retailers were hauled before the competition watchdog to explain the astronomical price rises motorists have had to deal with, Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles was asked about whether petrol rationing would be required.

He did not rule out the possibility.

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"Obviously, this is a function of how long this conflict continues, and that's not something that I can answer in terms of what's going to happen," he said. 

"But we are taking the measures that we're taking right now, and it is a matter of people just going about their business normally and calmly."

In a separate interview, Marles said the government has no plans to impose rationing at this stage.

He also pointed to several steps the government has taken in recent days to alleviate the supply pressures caused by the effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, including releasing 20 per cent of Australia's domestic stockpiles and relaxing fuel standards to allow higher-sulphur products to be used locally.

"All of that is about getting more fuel out there," Marles told Today. 

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"We are targeting the regions, places where there are the greatest needs. So, we are doing everything within our power to see fuel get to where it is required. 

"What we are really saying of Australians right now is to go about your business as you normally would. 

"We very much understand the pressure, particularly in the regions where there are fuel shortages that (are) being felt there, and that's why we are acting in the way that we are."

The closure of the Strait of Hormuz, where about 20 per cent of the world's oil – as well as an even greater proportion of natural gas, and significant amounts of fertiliser and other key goods – passes, has created the worst-ever supply shock to the global oil market, according to the International Energy Agency.

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That makes it more disruptive to the supply line than the twin oil crises of the 1970s, when much of the Western world was hit by major shortages and skyrocketing prices brought about by an embargo in 1973 and then the Iranian Revolution in 1979.

While Marles acknowledged the risks of a protracted conflict, he said for now, Australia is still receiving oil shipments.

"Right now, our message to Australians is to just keep going on as you normally would," he told the ABC. 

"As we speak, the same amount of ships that are supplying Australia are doing that."

The blame for petrol shortages at some service stations, particularly in regional Australia, has been pinned on panic-buying catching suppliers off-guard.

"We do acknowledge that in some local communities and particularly regional communities, there have been shortages that we are working with the ACCC and the industry to address," Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Today last week.

"Now the main reason for that is even in regional areas we're told by the suppliers that there was enough for usual patterns of consumption, but not for these elevated levels of buying."

Today, the ACCC is hauling major petrol companies in for a meeting about the sky-high prices motorists have faced at the bowser over the last two weeks.

"Some of the steep increases in petrol prices we saw shortly after the outbreak of this conflict have really raised concerns at the ACCC," Chalmers said today.

"Today the regulator will get a chance to make the retailers and suppliers justify their prices.

"I've made it very clear that if they find evidence of misconduct, we expect the ACCC to throw the book at them."

Since the start of the war, the government has doubled the fines available to the consumer watchdog if it finds petrol companies have behaved illegally.

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