JAMES GLENDAY, HOST: Well, let's turn our attention to federal politics and bring in the Federal Transport Minister and the local Member for this beautiful part of the world, Catherine King. She is at Parliament House this morning. Minister, welcome back to News Breakfast. 

MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT CATHERINE KING: Thank you. I'm so jealous you're at home. It looks beautiful in the background there. I know it's cold, but it'll be a really glorious day in Ballarat, I'm sure. 

GLENDAY: Look, there is not a cloud in the sky, which did make it particularly fresh at 3am this morning. Your office is just a couple of hundred metres down the road. But of course, someone's got to run the country. Thanks for joining us. Now, as we just heard, there's a lot going on in the Middle East. There are going to be more peace talks, hopefully. But then we're seeing all of these developments in the Strait of Hormuz. You have no control over this. You're just like the rest of us watching this. Are you frustrated that we're not closer to a deal? It did seem like things were going in the right direction just a couple of days ago. 

KING: Well, this is where diplomacy comes to the fore. We need every diplomatic effort there is to really get this resolved and get the Strait of Hormuz opened. The global community needs that to occur. It's good that the US is sending Vice President Vance for further talks, but this is really where the best diplomatic efforts are really going to be needed to resolve this. It's volatile, it's changing daily, we're all seeing that occur, but this is just so incredibly important to the global economy and really we want those diplomatic efforts to work. 

GLENDAY: We started to see petrol and diesel prices drop a bit in recent days, but especially over the weekend. If this ceasefire doesn't continue and there's only a couple of days left to go, is it likely that Australia is going to have to go to that next level on the fuel security plan to level three? 

KING: Well, as you saw over the weekend, the Prime Minister and the Energy Minister again announced that where our minimum stockholding obligations are at, they're still holding and holding well. The efforts of the Prime Minister to secure supply, personally flying overseas and talking to our neighbours to make sure that we're continuing to get fuel. But obviously, as we've said, the longer this goes on, the tighter things become. So we know that we've got supplies secured through May and people are being absolutely magnificent, frankly, in making sure that they're only using the fuel that they need. That sort of demand spike we saw at the start of this has really dropped off and people are being just absolutely fantastic. But we know we're not out of the woods until really the Strait’s opened and regular fuel supplies can come in. So, you know, we're putting every contingency in place. We're planning, we're doing everything we possibly can. But the longer this goes on, you know, the more uncertain things become. So we've got to plan for all of that. 

GLENDAY: Yeah, I think everyone has their fingers crossed that Strait is reopened as soon as possible. This has all thrown a big spanner in the works for your Federal Budget. Before this happened, it looked like there was definitely movement towards introducing a national road user charge for electric vehicles. Is that something that's totally off the table now? 

KING: Well, basically, this work has been underway for quite a while. So I think back in 2023, the Treasurer and other Treasurers around the country started the work on this. It's now come to my department to look at. And we're slowly making our way through, you know, what might it look like? How do you do that? But it would be fair to say right at the moment when we're trying to help people get into electric vehicles, when we've got a fair bit on when it comes to the energy supply, that it's not front of mind right at the moment of what we would be doing. Right at the moment we're trying to look at how can we help people with as much cost of living relief, trying to get what people are experiencing, quite a strain on their budgets because of the fuel price. And really, we're trying to do what we can to get people into electric vehicles where they can. And really, that's the focus of our attention at the moment. But road user charging at some point in time is going to be needed, as we see the drop off from fuel excise for the infrastructure that funds our roads. But we're going to take our time doing it properly. 

GLENDAY: So I just want to confirm on that, does seem like you're kicking the can down the road. It doesn't seem like that's a thing for this Budget. It's going to be in the years to come. 

KING: Well, I think certainly, as we've always said, the work's been underway for some time now, it's been talked about for a while and the work's ongoing within my department. Of course we'll obviously, if we do put anything in place it's got to be legislated and I'm not 100% sure there's a pathway through the Parliament as well. So we're just doing the work on all of that now and continue to have those discussions. 

GLENDAY: And just on EVs, there's a really popular tax incentive for people who buy EVs at the moment. Are you at all concerned that leads to poorer taxpayers who can't afford to upgrade and who are driving petrol cars, essentially subsidising EVs and more expensive cars for richer Australians. 

KING: Well, I think what that tax has done is really started the uplift in electric vehicles in Australia through those leasing arrangements. So that's worked. It's also meant now as those leases have finished, there's now those cars available more cheaply on the second-hand market. And that's been booming as a result of what we've seen in the Middle East as well. People are really looking for those second-hand vehicles. So it provides that opportunity for those to come into the market. Obviously, that tax is under review and there'll be further announcements in relation to the upcoming Budget in relation to that. 

GLENDAY: We have to let you go, Minister, but before I do, very briefly, we've been asking people about what their favourite local treasure is. You're from Ballarat, what's the treasure of Ballarat as far as you're concerned? 

KING: Well, I'm going to say the people. You'll find everybody is just so warm and welcoming. You'll find that. I know you're talking to Adam, who's done the Ballarat Marathon which is on this weekend. You talked to Geetha and members of the Ballarat Indian community. All people who are just so warm and welcoming. So, the people are our greatest treasure. 

GLENDAY: That is a nice message. Minister thanks so much for joining our show this morning.

KING: Great to be with you.