One of Australia’s most experienced truck drivers has led calls for the fuel excise to be shelved entirely until the global oil crisis caused by the Middle East conflict ends.

Loadshift, Australia’s largest freight marketplace ,has called for the full suspension of not only the excise but also GST on diesel, which has soared past $3 a litre across Australia in recent days.

It has warned that not only freight companies but also their customers will go under if diesel prices continue to soar.

While major carriers have slapped fuel levies of up to 40 per cent on their customers, small operators, which make up 98 per cent of the trucking industry, can’t pass on the rising costs.

It comes after Opposition Leader Angus Taylor wrote to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese calling for the fuel excise to be halved temporarily for three months, from 52.6 cents a litre to 26 cents.

But Western Australian-based Loadshift carrier Terry Snell (pictured below with son Joel), who also starred on season 10 of Channel Seven reality series Outback Truckers, says the Coalition’s proposal doesn’t go far enough.

He believes the escalating fuel crisis has set the industry back one to two years.

‘As the fuel price goes up, so does the government’s tax take. What incentive is there for them to act?’ Mr Snell said.

‘It’s not supporting our industry and it’s not supporting the farmers.’

A truck driver of 50 years, Mr Snell has just crossed the Nullarbor, where he saw 60-65 per cent fewer trucks on the road than usual.

Loadshift operations coordinator Alex Randall described halving the excise as a half measure.

‘Drivers are paying $3.60 a litre in outback WA and getting stranded at empty servos,’ he said.

‘The whole excise and the GST need to go for diesel, now, or you’re going to see businesses go under right across the freight sector – and then the shelves really do go empty.’

Another Loadshift carrier, Robert Cook, got stranded twice on a single run between Perth and Melbourne this week, where his fuel bill for the trip doubled from $5,000 to $10,000.

He and several other truck drivers were stuck at a service station for 12 hours while waiting for a fuel delivery before spending two days stranded at Bordertown.

‘There were seven of us truckies in Ceduna and there’s four of us in Bordertown,’ Mr Cook told Daily Mail earlier this week.

‘Then there’s the guys that are coming in, seeing there’s no fuel and driving onto the next place.

‘For me, I had to stop because I only had a quarter of a tank left so I didn’t want to risk it. Now I’m sitting here until I can fill up again and continue my journey.’

Anthony Albanese has assured that Australia’s fuel supplies are secure for the next two months at least.

But the Prime Minister warned that the longer the Middle East war goes on, the greater the impact it will have from late May onwards.

‘The war is real. The war is having an impact on Australians, like it’s having an impact right around the world,’ he told reporters.

‘You can’t wish that away. What you can do is respond in an appropriate, orderly, adult way, working with industry, with different levels of government to make a difference.

‘I can assure Australians we’re working around the clock, and I want us to have the strongest possible plan, so we’re ready as well, overprepared for what may come.’

With only two refineries still operating, Australia imports about 90 per cent of its fuel, mostly from key trading partners Singapore, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan.

Six cancelled shipments of fuel to Australia were replaced through ‘alternative sources’, while three additional extra cargoes ordered by refiners and importers.

Six tankers carrying jet fuel will also arrive in Australia from China between now and April 8 to ensure flights are not impacted over Easter, one of of Australia’s busiest travel periods.

‘For the next few weeks, Australia’s supply of petrol and diesel and oil will be the same, if not higher than it normally would be,’ Energy Minister Chris Bowen said.

‘As the prime minister indicated, those Australians thinking about potential flights over Easter, we can confirm there are currently, as we speak, six cargo loads of jet fuel are on their way to Australia, which is the normal level to be expected at this time. None of them have been cancelled.

‘That does give me confidence for the coming weeks, certainly every day that passes without more cancellations is more confidence going into April, and late April and into early May.

‘Having said that, the international situation remains very uncertain. Prices are elevated in the international oil market; there’s no question about that.’

Albanese will meet with state and territory leaders on Monday for an urgent national cabinet meeting to discuss emergency measures to address the fuel crisis.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not ruled out halving the fuel excise to provide temporary relief to Aussies struggling with soaring prices at the bower.

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has written to the Prime Minister calling for the fuel excise to be slashed to 26 cents a litre for three months to help Aussies save an estimated $50 a week.

The current fuel excise in Australia is 52.6 cents a litre and was previously halved by former Scott Morrison government for six months in 2022 following Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.

Albanese would not commit to the Coalition’s proposal but said that the federal government would take ‘every practical measure required to shield our nation from the worst of the global uncertainty.’

‘My government has always been strong on cost-of-living measures; we’ll continue to do so, we do so in a responsible way in the context of our budget considerations,’ he said.

The government dismissed Mr Taylor’s proposal to fill the estimated $1.5billion-$2billion budget home by scrapping other energy schemes.

‘They have also called for cuts to things that are making a difference to the cost of living, such as batteries … cuts to EV support,’ Albanese said.

‘I don’t think there’s anyone out there today who has bought an electric vehicle who is regretting the decision at this point in time.’

Australia’s government insists it still has not received any direct requests from the United States for military aid in its war with Iran, after a public attack from President Donald Trump.

The US president criticised allied countries for not providing assistance in the conflict, as the closure of the Strait of Hormuz continues to put pressure on global oil prices.

‘(UK Prime Minister Keir Starmer) didn’t want to help us. Australia, too. Australia was not great. I was a little surprised by Australia,’ Trump said.

Australia is providing military assistance in the Persian Gulf region following a request from the United Arab Emirates.

Defence Minister Richard Marles would not be drawn on Trump’s criticism, but said no requests from the White House have been received.

‘The last thing I’m going to do is give a running commentary on what the president has said, all we can do is respond to this situation, respond to the requests that are made of us,’ he told the ABC on Friday.

‘We’re looking at all the requests that we get from countries around the world, including the United States, and obviously we answer them in the context of our national interest.

‘Defending the states of the Gulf is really important given our relationship with them.’

An E-7A Wedgetail military surveillance plane, along with 85 defence personnel, has been sent to the UAE to monitor Iranian drone strikes.

The request for help from the UAE has been the only one received by Australia since the US-Israel war with Iran began, Mr Marles said.

‘The E-7 is in in the region, and it is playing a really important part,’ he said.

‘It is playing an important role in respect of the defence of the gulf states. We will work this through with our with our friends and our partners, to look at what role we can play.

The US president has extended a self-imposed deadline to Iran to re-open the Strait of Hormuz to April 6 before potential strikes on energy infrastructure.

Federal minister Murray Watt said it was imperative for the war to be resolved as soon as possible.

‘From Australia’s perspective, we support anything that is going to get the Strait of Hormuz open as quickly as possible and restore some of the interrupted fuel chains that we have,’ Senator Watt told ABC Radio on Friday.

‘The longer this dispute goes on and the longer the Strait of Hormuz is closed, that’s going to continue to have impacts on the Australian economy and Australian families.’

Coalition frontbencher Sarah Henderson said the government needed to outline why military help had not been provided to the US.

‘It’s quite embarrassing that in the international stage we have been called out as not providing appropriate assistance to the US,’ she told Sky News.

‘The US is our strongest defence ally. This is pretty grim news overnight from the United States.’

Australia’s fuel supply outlook is secure short term but is expected to face more difficulties in the coming months, Anthony Albanese has warned.

The Prime Minister and Energy Minister Chris Bowen gave an update on the fuel crisis on Friday after the national security committee met for the 16th time since the Middle East conflict began five weeks ago.

Six tankers carrying jet fuel will arrive in Australia from China between now and April 8.

‘The government has been clear that the longer this war goes on the greater the impact will be,’ Albanese said.

‘Our government is undertaking every practical measure required to shield our nation from the worst of the global uncertainty which is out there

‘I can assure Australians we’re working around the clock, and I want us to have the strongest possible plan, so we’re ready as well, overprepared for what may come.’

Bowen insisted that Australia’s supply of petrol, diesel, and oil remains the same.

‘The demand is very high still, and the supply is also increasing and has increased,’ the minister said.

‘The government has always acknowledged there are real and unacceptable shortages in regional Australia as the demand has spiked so much and it’s taken time for that strong domestic supply.’

He added the government remains in contact with Asian partners regarding fuel supplies, including Malaysia.

‘I have also been talking to the Malaysian government. I’m very, very pleased with those conversations,’ Bowen said.

‘[The] Malaysian government has indicated to me they regard their role as a reliable supplier of liquid fuel to Australia extremely importantly, and that they see Australia as a key ally and friend, and that they will continue to work with us.’

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on him to slash the fuel excise by half as the nationwide shortage escalates.

More than 600 service stations across Australia have run out of fuel as the US-Israeli war in Iran continues to drive up prices.

The current fuel excise in Australia is 52.6 cents a litre.

The former Scott Morrison government previously halved the excise for six months in 2022 following Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.

Taylor wants the fuel excise slashed to 26 cents a litre to help Aussies save an estimated $50 a week at the bowser.

He visited a Canberra service station on Friday, where the price of diesel has soared to almost $3.16 a litre.

Filling up his car set him back $130.

‘We have proposed a fully funded package that will not put pressure on inflation and we have also proposed a halving of the road user charge which will flow through to transport costs and take pressure off the cost of transport for food and all those other goods that Australians have it pay for every single day,’ Taylor told reporters.

‘We need affordable fuel in this country, we need secure fuel in this country and we need it as fast as possible.

‘We need a government that takes action that shows leadership. What we’re proposing here today is a pathway forward, an action plan that the government can get on with straightaway and we are calling on them to do it absolutely immediately.’

He proposed replacing the budget hole by scrapping EV tax breaks, cutting green hydrogen projects, and freezing the home battery scheme.

Taylor also called on the government to move the fuel on top of slashing the excise.

‘Get on with it, we need leadership in this country immediately,’ he said.

Nationals leader Matt Canavan said: ‘Because of Labor’s inability to manage the Federal Budget, we are seeing so much pressure on the budgets of all families around Australia and it is not right for the government to continue to take in the same amount of tax in that environment.

Albanese later slammed the Coalition’s proposal to cut incentives for electric vehicles and home batteries to fund the fuel excise cut.

‘They’ve called … for cuts to things that are making a difference to cost of living, such as batteries that are making a positive difference,’ he told reporters.

‘They’ve called for cuts to EV support. I don’t think there is anyone out there today who has bought an electric vehicle, who’s regretting the decision at this point in time.’

Food industry leaders warned the Albanese government back in 2022 that supply chains would be disrupted in Australia if a global fuel crisis emerged.

Experts have accused the government of failing to act on repeated calls for a national plan, amid fears Australia’s reliance on imported fuel and fertiliser could disrupt the nation’s supply chains.

Australia’s fuel crisis sparked by the ongoing Middle East conflict has exposed deeper concerns about food security after the government ignored warnings about the risk, which were initially raised when it returned to power almost four years ago.

A national strategy is still being developed and is not expected to be finalised for another two years.

‘The world has changed in the last five or 10 years and that’s why the food sector came together to lobby government and say you need to keep the community safe and to keep them fed,’ Independent Food Distributors Australia chief executive Richard Forbes told Sky New host Peta Credlin.

‘I don’t think the government does urgency well and I don’t think they understand what a risk mitigation strategy is all about… that is planning for the inevitable.

‘The Minister for Agriculture, Julie Collins, said last week you can’t predict a war, but you can plan for any geopolitical escalation and that’s exactly what’s happened.’

Food distributors are now being charged a 47 per cent increase in the fuel levy, with price rises tipped to be passed onto customers within weeks.

‘I think in the next four to eight weeks, we’re going to see increases in the price of food right across the board,’ Mr Forbes said.

‘I don’t think this is going to be over in weeks, I think it’s going to go on for months, possibly longer.’

Motorists in major cities are now facing fuel limits at some petrol stations as shortages spread beyond regional areas.

Supply pressures that have plagued regional Australia’s independent petrol stations for weeks are now washing into the country’s urban markets.

Customers at a Shell-branded Viva station on Sydney‘s Northern Beaches were limited to 50 litres per vehicle, with jerry cans and external tanks banned due to shortages, The Australian reports.

Energy Minister Chris Bowen has revealed almost 8 per cent of all service stations across Australia are now affected by the fuel crisis and struggling to source supply.

Bowen gave an update on the numbers in Parliament question time on Thursday and confirmed 608 petrol stations were suffering from a shortage of at least one type of fuel.

Figures collected by state and territory authorities, showed that 314 service stations in NSW were out of one type of fuel, 178 of those were out diesel, and 48 were completely dry.

The current average unleaded fuel price in Sydney is 259.9 cents per litre and 315.2 cents for diesel.

Melbourne: 258.5 cents for unleaded and 316 cents for diesel.

Canberra: 253 cents for unleaded and 314.7 cents for diesel.

Brisbane: 253.7 cents for unleaded and 316.6 cents for diesel.

Perth: 258.4 cents for unleaded and 308 cents for diesel.

Adelaide: 259.1 cents for unleaded and 313.5 cents for diesel.

Hobart: 259.8 cents for unleaded and 317.1 cents for diesel.

Darwin: 262 cents for unleaded and 313.7 for diesel.

Donald Trump has blasted Australia for not supporting the Middle East war enough by knocking back requests to send vessels to help unblock the Strait of Hormuz.

This is despite Australia earlier this week signing a joint statement with more than 20 countries offering to contribute to efforts to protect the key waterway.

Trump blasted British PM Keir Starmer over his initial reluctance to allow the US use British bases in the war before he turned on Australia.

‘I was a little surprised by Australia. I wouldn’t say anybody was great other than the five countries in the Middle East. We never really had very much support,’ Trump told a cabinet meeting at the White House.

He repeated what appeared to be a veiled threat, saying he would ‘never forget’ which nations offered assistance and those that didn’t.

The latest attack comes a week after Trump slammed Australia and other American allies on social media for refusing to join his ‘coalition’ to reopen the Strait of Hormuz.

Trump said he had been told America’s allies ‘don’t want to get involved’ in the Iran war, despite his appeals for help securing the Strait as oil prices spiral.

‘We no longer ‘need,’ or desire, the NATO countries’ assistance – WE NEVER DID,’ the US President wrote on Truth Social on March 17.

‘Likewise, Japan, Australia, or South Korea.

‘In fact, speaking as President of the United States of America, by far the Most Powerful Country Anywhere in the World, WE DO NOT NEED THE HELP OF ANYONE.’