Canberra, March 18 (IANS) Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on Wednesday flagged new measures to protect the country's people from the 'worst' of the global economic uncertainty driven by the ongoing conflict in the Middle East.

In a speech to an automotive industry event on Wednesday morning, Albanese described the conflict in the Middle East as another "major shock to hit the global economy" in the 2020s following the COVID-19 pandemic and the Russia-Ukraine conflict.

"We want to make sure that we do everything we can to shield the Australian economy, households and businesses from the worst of global uncertainty," he said.

"We will have more to say about the actions we are taking in the days ahead."

Albanese announced that he has called an emergency meeting with state and territory leaders on Thursday to ensure that fuel from national stockpiles is being deployed to where it is needed most, particularly regional communities, and emphasised the need for the country to build its self-reliance.

"We have to build an economy that is more resilient, more self-reliant and geared to our national strengths," he said.

Speaking earlier on Wednesday, Treasurer Jim Chalmers told Australian Broadcasting Corporation television that the federal budget for 2026-27 that he will hand down in May will focus on inflation, productivity and global economic uncertainty, Xinhua news agency reported.

Earlier on March 5, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese confirmed that Australia had deployed military assets to the Middle East to aid with the repatriation of citizens.

Speaking in parliament, Albanese had said that the government had deployed military assets to the Middle East earlier in the week as part of contingency planning to help Australian citizens who were stranded in the region amid widespread travel disruptions caused by the ongoing conflict.

Local media had reported that the military assets deployed to the Middle East were a transport aircraft and a refueling plane.

The government had announced it was deploying six crisis response teams from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade into the Middle East to provide additional consular assistance to citizens.

--IANS

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