Anthony Albanese knows the worst is yet to come as oil, cost-of-living crises collide

The gold-plated opulence of Brunei’s Royal Palace is probably the last place on earth the Prime Minister wants to be seen during a worsening cost-of-living crisis, as fears grow of a looming global recession.

Each day Australian motorists are nervously monitoring petrol supplies and spiralling costs at the bowser, farmers are grappling with diesel shortages and builders are reporting prices of construction items such as PVC pipe jumping 30 percent.

Today’s “uncertain world” as Anthony Albanese puts it, is prompting some extraordinary responses from leaders around the world, and the PM knows the worst is yet to come with this oil crisis.

A decision to jet off to Asia twice in as many weeks is not taken lightly, but the Prime Minister and his Foreign Minister Penny Wong firmly believe meeting face-to-face with Australia’s key regional energy partners is crucial as countries jostle for supplies.

Throughout his dashes to Singapore and Brunei, and finally Malaysia, the PM and Senator Wong are carefully and deliberately emphasising how Australia is a “dependable” and “reliable” trading partner.

“There’s no more important time to engage with our neighbours than the current time,” Mr Albanese declared after meeting with Brunei’s Sultan, and clinching assurances the oil-rich nation wasn’t looking to impose trade restrictions on Australia during the crisis.

Australia is also a crucial supplier of LNG to much of the region, and the largest trading partner for Brunei Darussalam which depends on our exports of produce, for which it provides crucial shipments of fertiliser.

While Albanese works to ensure fuel shipments keep flowing from Asia, back home the energy minister is delivering almost daily updates trying to assure motorists that supplies are continuing to arrive at pre-war projected levels.

Privately though, the Albanese government is nervous about long-term structural changes to the oil market, and acutely aware that because of its Australia’s distance from much of the world’s oil supplies it is vulnerable to future disruptions

Earlier this month the Prime Minister’s address to the nation fell flat with most Australians, but there now appears to be greater appreciation from voters that he is justified in flying out of the country to eyeball neighbouring leaders and remind them that they too depend on this country.