SARAH ABO, HOST: More now on Trump's blockade of the Strait of Hormuz. We are joined this morning by Transport and Infrastructure Minister Catherine King. Catherine, thanks so much for your time this morning. So, instead of joining the blockade, Australia will rather be joining a European summit about reopening the strait. The US though and Iran are not involved in those talks. So how much will actually be achieved?

CATHERINE KING, MINISTER FOR INFRASTRUCTURE, TRANSPORT, REGIONAL DEVELOPMENT AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT: Well, we hope a lot really. I mean, obviously, in terms of the reopening of the strait, that is a matter for the US and Iran to continue to work together. We hope that those efforts continue because it is really important to get the strait open as soon as we possibly can. But what 40 nations have done, and Australia will join those led by the UK and France, is to look at when it opens, how do we ensure safe and free shipping through the Strait of the Hormuz. That is part of international maritime law that there's free navigation of the seas, and I think all of the nations who are grappling, which has become a global energy crisis, are very keen to see the strait open but are working their way through what safe shipping will look like.

SARAH ABO: We're entirely in the hands of the US for this though, aren't we, and Iran will just weaponise this for as long as they can.

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, we hope very much- so, the ceasefire, which as we can see is incredibly fragile, we want talks to continue. We want the strait opened, and we want the US and Iran, obviously, to work together to that end. And our economy needs it. The global economy needs it.

SARAH ABO: Well, that's for sure. I mean, we've been feeling the effects of the bowser now for weeks. Now there's a 20 per cent spike in dairy prices that farmers are warning us about, thanks to those soaring fuel costs and fertiliser costs as well. I mean, that's going to have flow on effects to the public. How is everyone going to be able to survive through this?

CATHERINE KING: Well, we absolutely understand people are doing it incredibly tough at the moment. It's why we moved really quickly to drop the fuel excise. We've got some further tax cuts coming shortly in the middle of the year as well. But no doubt we know that the longer this goes on, there will be a long tail to this and we now are starting to see the impacts through other parts of the economy. Obviously, with fuel prices high it means distribution remains difficult. All of those issues are hurting Australians which is why we're working so hard to do- shore up supply. You've got the Prime Minister in Brunei today and heading to Malaysia trying to sure up that supply, get the distribution right, try and take some of the heat out of the price spikes where we can with the fuel excise as well as the heavy vehicle road user charge, dropping that to zero as well. All of those things we're working on, but we do understand people are doing it pretty tough and that this potentially will have a long tail and a long impact for Australians.

SARAH ABO: Well, the PM's visits though are just really about cementing the agreements that were pre-existing, right? There's nothing that seems to be ambitious about any of these trips. And the issue is we've got a trucking industry that's now also on the brink. Three quarters of operators facing a wipe out within six months. As you say, there's a long tail. Six months is long enough. How much longer will it take?

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, we're not in charge of whether the strait is open. That is a matter for Iran, and we do hope the ceasefire holds. But what we are trying to do is make sure we are in the best possible position to deal with these issues. Having the prime minister go to Brunei- he was obviously in Singapore just recently to make sure that our energy partners- we provide a lot of LNG, a lot of coal to many of these countries for their energy security. Our energy security also relies on them.

SARAH ABO: Minister, we've heard all of this before, and this is the issue. It doesn't stop what's happening right now. So basically, we're vulnerable, and we're absolutely at the mercy of what's happening internationally is what we're hearing from you, from the government.

CATHERINE KING: Well, certainly what we're doing is everything we can to shore up supply, to make sure distribution is occurring, and we are- and that is holding. So, that is holding at the moment. And so, what we're also doing is trying to take the heat out of some of those price spikes. Now for trucking in particular, lowering the road user charge to zero is a very important measure. The other thing that we've done is obviously ensure the capacity of the trucking industry to make sure that they can, through their contracting, be able to get those fuel price hikes actually cut based into their contracting so that the trucking industry can keep doing what it does.

SARAH ABO: Okay.

CATHERINE KING: So, all of that has been very quick work we do. We continue to talk with the trucking industry on a weekly basis about what their needs are. We've got to keep freight moving around the country. We're talking to the rail industry as well about that. And so, we're trying to make sure we're in the best possible position we can be to deal with what is a global fuel crisis.

SARAH ABO: So, will you extend then the fuel excise cut? Will you extend that road user charge being scrapped in the May Budget? I mean, the IMF is warning against these because they'll add to inflationary pressures, and then you've got a global recession looming.

CATHERINE KING: Well, again, this is a really difficult and tough time to land a budget. We obviously don't want to add to inflationary pressures. We don't want to make things more difficult for people, so we've got a balance here. The fuel excise has been put in until June, and any further decisions around cost-of-living relief for Australians on top of the tax cuts that we've already got baked into the budget will be a matter for the budget, which is just some four to five weeks away.

SARAH ABO: All right. It's feeling a little bit same-same, Minister. Thanks so much for joining us this morning. Appreciate it.

CATHERINE KING: Good to be with you, Sarah.