Australia will develop a minimum 50-day supply of diesel and jet fuel reserves, and boost petrol supplies by an extra ten days, under an $11 billion fuel security package announced by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese yesterday. Following a meeting of the national Cabinet, the PM said the federal government would spend $3.2 billion to establish a state owned, one billion litre stockpile of diesel and jet fuel. Another $7.5 billion will go towards refiners and importers, who will need to boost their minimum required stocks.Some of the money will also be used to bolster stockpiles of fertiliser, and will come in the form of loans, equity guarantees, insurance and price support.
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"About 99 per cent of Australia’s international trade moves through maritime ports, so if there are issues, they show up there first. We’re going to see much larger ships coming over the next 20 to 30 years, which means more dredging, more productivity, and better connections out of ports into the freight network. There’s also a big focus on diversifying ports — for example, places like Newcastle shifting from coal into supporting the energy transition, including handling oversized wind turbine components."
The S&P/ASX200 closed up 1.3 per cent yesterday to 8794 points. The session reversed what’s been an almost one-month downward trend, and came after US President Donald Trump said that an American naval operation to guide ships through the Strait of Hormuz would be paused in a bid to get Iran to agree to a peace deal to end the conflict.
The value of farmland across the country has recorded its 12th consecutive year of unbroken growth, but the relatively modest rise of 2.8 per cent is below inflation, and the slowest pace in more than a decade.
JB HiFi is giving more floorspace to wearables and health products, like rings, Meta AI glasses and monitoring devices. Chief executive Nick Wells said there were big opportunities in the categories, adding that there is potential for AI to change the role of the mobile phones and PCs.
BHP chief financial officer Vandita Pant has expressed confidence in the mining giant’s fuel and diesel stocks. She also welcomed an agreement last month between BHP and China’s state backed iron ore provider regarding pricing.
It has been a boom period for big tech and chipmakers. South Korea’s SamsungElectronics yesterday reached a $US1 trillion market valuation, having quadrupled over the past year. In the US, chipmaker Intel is having an incredible resurgence, up 160 per cent in the past six weeks.
Fear-o-meter
Farmland values have had an incredible run. For 12 years, prices have increased. It looked like not being the case in 2025, but winter rainfall helped cropping and livestock producers, and things picked up.
The Bendigo Bank2026 Farmland Values Report shows strong price growth in South Australia and Western Australia, while Queensland and NSW also recorded decent increases. Victoria was flat while Tasmania went backwards.
The outlook, however, is less promising, with buyers now prioritising asset quality, water security and long-term returns.
It’s an over-simplification, but if the rain comes, the value of land rises. There is more to it. Interest rates matter as do commodity prices, but seasonal conditions are number one.
The amount of farmland up for sale has declined in recent years. Last year sales were nearly 16 per cent below the ten-year average.
The Report looks at every farmland transaction across Australia over the past 31 years – which is about 310,000 transactions accounting for over 350 million hectares of land, traded at a total value of almost $245 billion.
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