Richard Marles awkwardly cut-off by Karl Stefanovic live on-air amid fuel security debate

A fuel security debate between Karl Stefanovic and the Deputy Prime Minister quickly turned awkward after the Labor heavyweight was cut-off several times, including by Channel 9 producers who played a clip of Donald Trump over him while he was speaking.

On Friday, Richard Marles was asked about the federal government’s reluctance to implement fuel conservation methods – such as rationing – at the bowser, despite many petrol stations around the country already doing the same.

He responded by pointing to the uncertainty around the Iran war, saying the government was taking its response “one day at a time”.

“We get that fuel prices have gone up, the oil price has gone up, and people are experiencing that at the bowser,” he said.

“And we get that people are doing it tough, and we’re also working in respect of a whole lot of measures around that as well.

“But on this day, we are getting the fuel into the country that we need … we have released more of the stockpile, and we’re getting that out those areas that are needed.

“But we are going to take this a day at a time, and we are going to remain calm,” he said.

Stefanovic responded: “I tell you what, if a country is doing day to day during a crisis, you know, you got dramas”.

He tried to move onto another question about Mr Trump “bagging” the Albanese government, repeating it twice as Mr Marles objected: “It’s fine for you to have the last say there … what we are doing is we are working through scenarios.”

As he was speaking, the Labor politician was then interrupted by clip of Mr Trump speaking about his disappointment with NATO and its reluctance to support the US campaign in Iran.

Followed by an awkward, silent pause, Mr Marles began to repeat his point, before the clip – at a noticeably lowered volume – played again.

Stefanovic then said: “I’ll circle back and let you finish what you were going to say, but I think it was the same thing that you’ve been saying for two weeks.”

Another few seconds of awkward silence followed, before Mr Marles asked: “Are you giving me an opportunity to say that now?”“Well, that’s what I just said,” Stefanovic shot back.

Mr Marles then pointed to the government's contingency planning amid the uncertainty of the Middle East conflict.

“We are looking at scenarios as this goes longer. We don’t know how long this is going to go, and you don’t know that either,” he said.

“And so we are obviously working through those scenarios at the same time … we are making decisions on this day based on the circumstances that we have on this day, and it is important to do that in a calm and prudent way.”