TV interview with Minister Butler, Sunrise - 6 March 2026

NATALIE BARR, HOST: The government has refused to confirm reports that two Australians were on board the nuclear-powered US submarine that torpedoed an Iranian frigate. The SMH and The Age newspapers are reporting that the Defence Department says two of our sailors were involved in that naval action with the belief they were on board the US sub as part of our shared AUKUS training rotation.
 
Let's bring in Health Minister Mark Butler and Deputy Opposition Leader Jane Hume. Good morning to you. Mark Butler, we'll start with you. The Australian people deserve to know if we somehow have become involved in this war. Will the government confirm if two Australian sailors were involved in this attack?
 
MARK BUTLER, MINISTER FOR HEALTH AND AGEING, MINISTER FOR DISABILITY AND THE NDIS: Good morning, Nat, and I think your viewers understand for some time Australian Navy personnel have been rotating on US Navy submarines out of Pearl Harbour, as your intro said, as a really important part of planning and preparation for our long-standing AUKUS arrangements over coming decades. But we've got also a very clear protocol that's existed for many, many years that we don't give specific details about where Australian Navy or other Australian Defence Force personnel might be when they are deployed with third countries, including the US. That's there for very clear operational reasons. And what we've said over the last 24 hours, more particularly what the Defence Department has said, is in very clear accordance with those longstanding protocols.
 
BARR: Yeah, so the Defence Department has said that two sailors were involved in the naval action on the Indian Ocean. So that sounds like they were on that sub.
 
BUTLER: The statement I've seen from the Defence Department was in accordance with the longstanding protocols that says that, yes, Australian Navy personnel have been rotating with US Navy submarines out of Pearl Harbour. That's been on the public record for some months now. But we won't confirm exactly where people are.
 
BARR: Okay. Jane, how does our response to the war change if, in fact, those two Australians were indeed on the sub that sank the Iranian warship?
 
SENATOR JANE HUME: Mark is right to follow protocol in these circumstances. Having Australians serving alongside, on board US submarines is exactly what AUKUS requires. It also allows our submariners to upskill, to be able to bring that capability to our own submarines in the future and strengthen our military capability. So this is something that we are aware of and something that we understand. Those protocols are there for a very good reason.
 
BARR: Okay, and we respect that. Moving on, a former boss of the ACCC has slammed petrol stations that have jacked up prices and are trying to cash in on the war, saying any cost increases cannot be flowing through the market yet. Mark, we are getting people texting us and basically just anyone driving around Australia at the moment is realising that petrol prices are going up. How?
 
BUTLER: That's right. Look, the oil prices are up 10 or 15 per cent around the globe as a result of this war. But you would expect that to take a week or two to flow through to the petrol bowser here in Australia. And so very early in the week, really within 24 or 48 hours of the war starting, Jim Chalmers, as the responsible Minister, made it very clear to our consumer watchdog, the ACCC, that we expected them to keep an eagle eye on petrol retailers to make sure that they weren't frankly taking the proverbial from Australian motorists and jacking up prices where there was no reason to do that.
 
We expect them to do their job. We cannot see war profiteering by petrol retailers here. I just drove past my local petrol station on the way down here. It was $1.89, which is probably within 10 cents of where it was at the beginning of the week. But we're hearing reports, particularly in the big cities in Sydney and Melbourne, where it's very hard to find petrol below $2. The consumer watchdog has to do its job here. We cannot see motorists getting ripped off at the bowser through war profiteering. There will be some pressure on petrol prices. There's no question about that as oil prices continue to be impacted by this war. But it should take some while to flow through to the bowser. And we've got to make sure that there's no profiteering on top of what would be a reasonable pass-through of an increase in global prices.
 
BARR: Mark, it sounds like they're already taking the mickey. I mean, just two examples this morning. Someone texting in on our hotline saying all Adelaide service stations have jumped by 30 to 50 cents, so you're lucky with the 10. Someone from Newcastle, New South Wales, $1.54 on Tuesday, $1.99 this morning. We know the watchdog is watching, but in the meantime, it sounds like people are paying through the roof. What can we do?
 
BUTLER: I think that's right. And Jim Chalmers has made it really clear he expects that consumer watchdog, sorry, I've lost my earpiece, to do its job. It's got those powers. It was put on notice by the government at the beginning of the week.
 
BARR: Okay.
 
BUTLER: And they've got to do their job and protect motorists. That's what they're set up to do.
 
BARR: Okay. Jane, what can people do in the meantime?
 
HUME: Well, I would be reporting it to the ACCC I mean, this is apparently the consumer watchdog, but the watchdog doesn't seem to have enough teeth to do anything about this. It should be somewhere between one week, maybe two weeks before those wholesale prices flow through. If that's not what you're seeing, I'd be shouting at the rooftops, let's announce this to the ACCC, you know? Use a hotline. Because quite frankly, if the watchdog hasn't got enough teeth, it's going to be Australians that pay the price. And that's on top of already rising prices from ever-increasing inflation that still remains out of control. That's the home grown inflation. This is the important stuff.
We should have got onto this earlier.
 
BARR: You know what? We've just had the NRMA say the fines aren't big enough that the ACCC has, so name and shame them, the service stations that are doing the wrong thing. Put them out on social media. Tell us. We'll tell you. Thanks. See you next week.