Interview with Emma Rebellato, ABC News Breakfast

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
TV INTERVIEW 
ABC NEWS BREAKFAST 
THURSDAY, 16 APRIL 2026

SUBJECTS: Geelong Refinery Fire; Securing fertiliser supply for Australia’s farmers; defence spending.

EMMA REBELLATO, HOST: Well, let's bring it back home because earlier we heard from one of the many farmers in Australia who are already feeling the effects of the war in Iran on their fertiliser supplies. The Federal Government is working on the problem. We're joined now by Agriculture Minister, Julie Collins in Brisbane. Minister, thanks for joining us.

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES, FORESTRY: Good morning, Emma.

REBELLATO: Before I get to the fertiliser supply issue, I just want to ask you about the oil refinery fire that we're covering in Corio in Victoria. Does this make the Government more anxious about our fuel situation?

COLLINS: Well, obviously we don't know the details of what is occurring on the ground there, but my first response is obviously we want to make sure everybody is safe and then we want to get it out as quickly as possible, and I understand that that's what is occurring. I also understand Minister Bowen has been in contact with Viva this morning, which is the refinery, and he'll have more to say later this morning.

REBELLATO: Okay. We will be speaking with him shortly as well. Let's get to fertiliser. So you're announcing biosecurity changes. What are they? What will they mean?

COLLINS: Well, obviously I want to start by saying that we'll never compromise on our biosecurity and we're going to keep it strong. But we also understand that we are in a unique situation and that this war in the Middle East is impacting Australian farmers, and we're doing everything we can do as the Government to work with industry in terms of the fertiliser supply, particularly urea, that we know is so important to our farmers. So what we are changing today and what we're announcing today is that we have been working with the fertiliser industry, with the sector, about how do we speed up our biosecurity processes for any fertiliser that's coming into Australia, particularly given we'll be sourcing from non traditional areas, and about how we might get that into the country and to our farmers much faster.

REBELLATO: Is this going to do anything to the cost of this fertiliser though? We've spoken to one farmer who is paying a huge amount more than what he did just a few weeks ago.

COLLINS: Well, obviously we're working to get as much fertiliser as we can in terms of what the demand is and we understand that farmers are making really critical decisions, and one of the issues that is affecting them is in terms of supply further down the track and making sure there is surety of supply when it comes to urea, so we're doing everything we can do to work with the industry to get as much into the country as quickly as we can. So, you know, what we do with this biosecurity, you know, the testing offshore, the officer offshore, the registration offshore will mean when we're getting it in from some non traditional areas, such as Nigeria or Oman, is that we can actually get it to the farmers much faster, so that should help with some of those things.

REBELLATO: We spoke to a Riverina farmer just a little while ago who said he's had to pay $100,000 upfront with no guarantee he'll even get fertiliser. That's just on the order. Has the Government been a bit too slow to act on this? This has been going on for a while now.

COLLINS: Well, we've been meeting with industry every single week and we have been working with them on what are the solutions and where is the fertiliser in Australia and what is the shortage and where are we going to get that shortage from. We're obviously also planning ahead in terms of sovereign capability into the future with Perdaman in Western Australia, because that will be making urea here in Australia from mid next year, so we're doing short term challenges and we're dealing with medium and long term as well in terms of improving the supply ongoing for farmers here in Australia.

REBELLATO: Minister, we're getting regular updates on fuel supply, but what are supplies like for fertiliser in Australia?

COLLINS: Well, we do know that we've got enough fertiliser either in the country or on the water on its way to Australia for the initial planting season, but this is about surety further down the track. We want to make sure that we're covering and getting as much fertiliser as we can for Australian farmers. We do know that there will be shortage in future months which is why we have been acting so quickly with the industry and with the sector to get as much into the country as we can, as quickly as we can.

REBELLATO: The Prime Minister's been in Brunei, he's going to be in Malaysia today. Are you hoping that Australia will get more supplies in terms of fertiliser grade urea or is all you can hope for that these supplies will maintain   they'll be maintained as to what they are?

COLLINS: Well, obviously it's been terrific that the Prime Minister has been in Brunei yesterday and talking and signing, you know, a statement in relation to both fuel and fertiliser. And I know from my perspective the fertiliser and those assurances are really important, but we are working across South East Asia, we're also working internationally with our partners and those relationships that we've built up and restored over the last few years to secure as much fertiliser as we can.  As I keep saying, you know, we are working internationally, but we're also working with the industry importantly about where is the fertiliser in Australia, where do we need to get it to and how short are we.

REBELLATO: We've got fuel issues, diesel issues, fertiliser. How worried are you for our regional communities across the country?

COLLINS: Yeah, well, we do know that some farmers are doing it really tough at the moment and making some really tough decisions because of, you know, prices of diesel and fertiliser as well as availability. And our job as the Government obviously is to work to shield Australians as much as possible from the impact of the war in the Middle East that is impacting globally, and we've been working with industry, as I said, meeting regularly and dealing with immediate challenges and helping them solve some of those while we work on medium and longer term strategies.  Because of the unpredictability of this situation we don't know how long this is going to go on for, we're making sure that we are ready for whatever comes.

REBELLATO: Speaking of strategy, we're going to be hearing from the Acting Prime Minister, Defence Minister, Richard Marles, later today about defence spending. We do know that an additional $53 billion to Australia's defence capabilities will be spent over the next decade. Given the situation we find ourselves in at the moment globally, is this a bit too late?

COLLINS: Well, no, we've been reviewing our defence expenditure regularly since we came to office, we obviously did the Defence Strategic Review and today's the National Defence Strategy. We already announced, you know, earlier that we are improving our expenditure on drones, and you'll hear from the Deputy Prime Minister, the Defence Minister, today on the detail of what our National Defence Strategy is going to be.

REBELLATO: Agriculture Minister, Julie Collins, thanks for your time this morning.

COLLINS: Thanks very much.