A major fire at one of Australia's two remaining oil refineries isn't expected to have much effect on national prices.
The fire at Viva Energy's Geelong facility will hinder its ability to make petrol, but it can still produce diesel and jet fuel.
It's one of only two sites in Australia and produces 10% of the country's fuel.
Australia Correspondent Murray Olds told Mike Hosking the fire underlines the perilous nature of the country’s fuel supplies, as they have very limited refining capacity.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Murray Old, how are you morning, Mike yet?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Pretty good busy week over here.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Have they put the fire out yet?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yes, the fire took thirteen hours to put out. I mean,
as Chris bow and the Energy Minister quoted yesterday he said,
not good timing. Well, no kidding, minister, They're not sure.
Is it a mechanical failure. It's a very complex process.
I knew. I've found out more about petrol refining in
the last twenty four hours and I've ever known in
(00:26):
my life. But it's extremely complicated. You got all these
different volatile fluids coming together. Is it a mechanical failure
or delayed maintenance? As I say, thirteen hours? Luckily no
one was hurt. There were dozens and dozens of people
on nightship when that blew up. Half of Victoria's petrol supplies,
gone ten percent of the national supply. And what it does,
(00:48):
of course, I mean Anthony Albineasy hurrying home from Asia
where he's been begging for fuel supplies from Singapore, Brunei,
Malaysia hasn't gone to Korea yet that that might be
on the cards. Know. It just underlines, doesn't it, the
very perilous nature of Australia's fuel supplies. We have very
limited refining capacity here. I did slap the Liberal government
(01:11):
last week on this program, and it was unfair because
it wasn't that Angus Taylor who was then Energy Minister.
He didn't close them down. They simply left Australia because
it was cheaper. The scale and the economist like some
of the other things, like it's cheaper to make it
in age.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It's a very good point and the same some work
was done here and we've had the same anst decision
about Anstey decision around refining our own stuff. But at
the end of the day, the model works. You buy
the finished product from an Asian nation. It's the cheapest
way of doing business. Unfortunately, war's got in the way
of that. Miles is interesting. Miles popped up to that
imfing in Washington. He was only there for a couple
(01:48):
of hours. Our minister's up there as well. Somewhere in
there is was it Marsa was doing defense or not?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, Yeah, he's the Deputy Prime Minister and he is
the defense Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So he's up there and he comes back with you
this amount of money. But the suggestion that I was reading,
was he's fudging numbers. In other words, that you can
get to what he comes to. But he's playing all
over the place with numbers.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Look, Washington says, we want three and a half percent
of GDP spent on defense. You have to do something
to look after yourselves. Well, Marles says, look under our
big spending plan, it's over fifty billion dollars over the
next ten years. We're going to be tested on three percent.
Yes it's not three and a half, but it's going
to be three percent. So we're on the way. But
if you look at the way it's being counted, as
(02:31):
you point out, the Australian government now is adopting the
NATO model, not the American model. And the NATO model
includes expenditure on veterans, compensation, military pensions, housing for defense
force personnel. Border force is also in there, and you
get you know, some military spies. They're also included in
(02:51):
the defense spend. And what Washington was talking about, as
you and I both know, sharp ended stuff like drones
and better missile capaty. And that's where Australia is going
to be headed over the next decade, no doubt about it.
But the critics over here are saying, you are kidding.
How can you have a retired brigadier general's pension being
included in the defense sped Boddy's silly. Exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Those job numbers you got yesterday thirty four thousand and
fall in part timers, but you got fifty two thousand
more full time jobs, so net you're gaining, you're winning.
It's still working for you.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah. But here's the thing, And that was my initial
take on that headline figure. But the economists who are
much smarter than me, have pointed out that snapshot was
taken long before the full impact and we haven't even
seen the full impact yet, have we of the Middle
Eastern War, the war in Iran, and I supposed in
(03:47):
terms of Israel's attack on Lebanon. The economists are saying,
we haven't yet factored in to that unemployment figure the
full impact of what's happening up and the Gulf, and
the economists are predicting that figure is actually well below
what it's going to get to as the full impact
(04:08):
of this energy crisis, you know, bites through the economy,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Explain to me though, So the one I always follow
is that what they call the participation rate. And so
in difficult times you get a lower participation rate because
people give up on looking for a job. But in
this how can you have more jobs, which you do,
but a lower participation rate. There must be some laggards
there who just don't want to work.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Well, that's true that you'll always have that in every
single economy around the world. But the participation rate measures
people who are actively looking for work, and so if
they've found a job, they are no longer participating. It's
not the participation rate. What that measures is people scouring,
you know, jobs wanted advertisements across the internet. These days,
(04:52):
there's no I mean, there are no jobs anymore in
the back of newspapers. Remember those days, Yeah, I remember.
So you know it looks extremely complicated. You're asking a
dummy here that.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Don't talk it.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Gets better.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Don't talk yourself down. Have you been to the Intercontinental
Coochie Beach? Is that a good looking hotel?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I went there about thirty years ago and got hammered
one night. I think I went to see Midnight Oil
and that was a fantastic night out. I'm not sure
I'd be going there this weekend because you're going to
have the Duchess of York, the Duchess of Sussex. She's
going to be there. Where's the quote here? She's going
(05:34):
to an event that's been branded quote a girl's weekend
like no other unquote, involves a gala, dinner, yoga, meditation,
and something called sound healing quote unquote. I reckon that
could be no sounding.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
No, no, no, it's it's what you do as you
pump my show and you go into a quiet room
and I'm thinking, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I guess what thirty two hundred to go and you know,
take part in this a girl's weekend like now either
with a husky soundtrack sounds good?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
You didn't You don't mention the disco at the end.
Do you realize a disco at the end?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
No, I'm a stand on that. There's a ticket thirty.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Two hundred bucks. You go, well, mate, we'll catch up
next Friday. Or was a pleasure and a treasure? Mury
olds Meghan. By the way, I've changed my mind on
not completely, but partially because there's a label called Friends
with Frank And if you followed the tour yesterday she
turned up in what I would loosely call a coat,
a raincoat. It's not a raincoat, it's a coat, an overcoat.
(06:34):
Whatever she turns up on that, that's a Friends with Frank.
Her people DM everybody. So they DM all these designers,
small designers, niche designers, HEG designers, and they say, look,
Megan's coming to town. Flick us a few of your
things and we'll whack them on her. And you know,
you never know. So this woman the article I was
reading yesterday, who owns Friends with Frank, she could not
(06:55):
be more delighted. So we all sit there sneering, looking
down our noses at Harry and and they're all grifters
and they get freeb's and stuff and all that's true.
But at the end of the day, this woman who
runs Friends with Frank is going to do materially well
out of a small struggling business in terms of fashion,
and she could not be more grateful. So if she's happy,
then I'm happy for her. So you can't be mean
(07:16):
about them anymore. For more from the Mike Asking Breakfast,
listen live to news talks that'd be from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
Murray Old, how are you morning, Mike yet?
Speaker 2 (00:02):
Pretty good busy week over here.
Speaker 1 (00:03):
Have they put the fire out yet?
Speaker 2 (00:05):
Yes, the fire took thirteen hours to put out. I mean,
as Chris bow and the Energy Minister quoted yesterday he said,
not good timing. Well, no kidding, minister, They're not sure.
Is it a mechanical failure. It's a very complex process.
I knew. I've found out more about petrol refining in
the last twenty four hours and I've ever known in
(00:26):
my life. But it's extremely complicated. You got all these
different volatile fluids coming together. Is it a mechanical failure
or delayed maintenance? As I say, thirteen hours? Luckily no
one was hurt. There were dozens and dozens of people
on nightship when that blew up. Half of Victoria's petrol supplies,
gone ten percent of the national supply. And what it does,
(00:48):
of course, I mean Anthony Albineasy hurrying home from Asia
where he's been begging for fuel supplies from Singapore, Brunei,
Malaysia hasn't gone to Korea yet that that might be
on the cards. Know. It just underlines, doesn't it, the
very perilous nature of Australia's fuel supplies. We have very
limited refining capacity here. I did slap the Liberal government
(01:11):
last week on this program, and it was unfair because
it wasn't that Angus Taylor who was then Energy Minister.
He didn't close them down. They simply left Australia because
it was cheaper. The scale and the economist like some
of the other things, like it's cheaper to make it
in age.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
It's a very good point and the same some work
was done here and we've had the same anst decision
about Anstey decision around refining our own stuff. But at
the end of the day, the model works. You buy
the finished product from an Asian nation. It's the cheapest
way of doing business. Unfortunately, war's got in the way
of that. Miles is interesting. Miles popped up to that
imfing in Washington. He was only there for a couple
(01:48):
of hours. Our minister's up there as well. Somewhere in
there is was it Marsa was doing defense or not?
Speaker 2 (01:53):
Yeah, Yeah, he's the Deputy Prime Minister and he is
the defense Yeah exactly.
Speaker 1 (01:57):
So he's up there and he comes back with you
this amount of money. But the suggestion that I was reading,
was he's fudging numbers. In other words, that you can
get to what he comes to. But he's playing all
over the place with numbers.
Speaker 2 (02:09):
Look, Washington says, we want three and a half percent
of GDP spent on defense. You have to do something
to look after yourselves. Well, Marles says, look under our
big spending plan, it's over fifty billion dollars over the
next ten years. We're going to be tested on three percent.
Yes it's not three and a half, but it's going
to be three percent. So we're on the way. But
if you look at the way it's being counted, as
(02:31):
you point out, the Australian government now is adopting the
NATO model, not the American model. And the NATO model
includes expenditure on veterans, compensation, military pensions, housing for defense
force personnel. Border force is also in there, and you
get you know, some military spies. They're also included in
(02:51):
the defense spend. And what Washington was talking about, as
you and I both know, sharp ended stuff like drones
and better missile capaty. And that's where Australia is going
to be headed over the next decade, no doubt about it.
But the critics over here are saying, you are kidding.
How can you have a retired brigadier general's pension being
included in the defense sped Boddy's silly. Exactly.
Speaker 1 (03:14):
Those job numbers you got yesterday thirty four thousand and
fall in part timers, but you got fifty two thousand
more full time jobs, so net you're gaining, you're winning.
It's still working for you.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah. But here's the thing, And that was my initial
take on that headline figure. But the economists who are
much smarter than me, have pointed out that snapshot was
taken long before the full impact and we haven't even
seen the full impact yet, have we of the Middle
Eastern War, the war in Iran, and I supposed in
(03:47):
terms of Israel's attack on Lebanon. The economists are saying,
we haven't yet factored in to that unemployment figure the
full impact of what's happening up and the Gulf, and
the economists are predicting that figure is actually well below
what it's going to get to as the full impact
(04:08):
of this energy crisis, you know, bites through the economy,
no doubt about it.
Speaker 1 (04:13):
Explain to me though, So the one I always follow
is that what they call the participation rate. And so
in difficult times you get a lower participation rate because
people give up on looking for a job. But in
this how can you have more jobs, which you do,
but a lower participation rate. There must be some laggards
there who just don't want to work.
Speaker 2 (04:32):
Well, that's true that you'll always have that in every
single economy around the world. But the participation rate measures
people who are actively looking for work, and so if
they've found a job, they are no longer participating. It's
not the participation rate. What that measures is people scouring,
you know, jobs wanted advertisements across the internet. These days,
(04:52):
there's no I mean, there are no jobs anymore in
the back of newspapers. Remember those days, Yeah, I remember.
So you know it looks extremely complicated. You're asking a
dummy here that.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Don't talk it.
Speaker 2 (05:06):
Gets better.
Speaker 1 (05:06):
Don't talk yourself down. Have you been to the Intercontinental
Coochie Beach? Is that a good looking hotel?
Speaker 2 (05:12):
I went there about thirty years ago and got hammered
one night. I think I went to see Midnight Oil
and that was a fantastic night out. I'm not sure
I'd be going there this weekend because you're going to
have the Duchess of York, the Duchess of Sussex. She's
going to be there. Where's the quote here? She's going
(05:34):
to an event that's been branded quote a girl's weekend
like no other unquote, involves a gala, dinner, yoga, meditation,
and something called sound healing quote unquote. I reckon that
could be no sounding.
Speaker 1 (05:48):
No, no, no, it's it's what you do as you
pump my show and you go into a quiet room
and I'm thinking, yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:53):
I guess what thirty two hundred to go and you know,
take part in this a girl's weekend like now either
with a husky soundtrack sounds good?
Speaker 1 (06:02):
You didn't You don't mention the disco at the end.
Do you realize a disco at the end?
Speaker 2 (06:07):
No, I'm a stand on that. There's a ticket thirty.
Speaker 1 (06:10):
Two hundred bucks. You go, well, mate, we'll catch up
next Friday. Or was a pleasure and a treasure? Mury
olds Meghan. By the way, I've changed my mind on
not completely, but partially because there's a label called Friends
with Frank And if you followed the tour yesterday she
turned up in what I would loosely call a coat,
a raincoat. It's not a raincoat, it's a coat, an overcoat.
(06:34):
Whatever she turns up on that, that's a Friends with Frank.
Her people DM everybody. So they DM all these designers,
small designers, niche designers, HEG designers, and they say, look,
Megan's coming to town. Flick us a few of your
things and we'll whack them on her. And you know,
you never know. So this woman the article I was
reading yesterday, who owns Friends with Frank, she could not
(06:55):
be more delighted. So we all sit there sneering, looking
down our noses at Harry and and they're all grifters
and they get freeb's and stuff and all that's true.
But at the end of the day, this woman who
runs Friends with Frank is going to do materially well
out of a small struggling business in terms of fashion,
and she could not be more grateful. So if she's happy,
then I'm happy for her. So you can't be mean
(07:16):
about them anymore. For more from the Mike Asking Breakfast,
listen live to news talks that'd be from six am weekdays,
or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio.
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