By Andrew Brown, Grace Crivellaro and Aaron Bunch in Canberra

The prime minister has defended a $20 million advertising campaign urging drivers to cut down on fuel use ahead of a four-day trip to Asia to shore up petrol and diesel supplies.

The taxpayer-funded campaign, which rolled out from Monday, tells drivers to conserve fuel by changing their driving habits or leaving the car at home as volatility in the Middle East impacts global oil supply.

Anthony Albanese rejected claims the ads were a waste of money in the middle of the fuel crisis, saying the campaign provided practical information to the public.

“We need to give people that information,” he told Seven’s Sunrise program.

“We want to keep the economy moving … we want people to go about in a sensible way and that’s why a public information campaign is very important at this point in time.”

But opposition defence spokesman James Paterson said the ad drive wasn’t necessary.

“That is patronising political propaganda from the Albanese government,” he told Sydney radio 2GB.

“When petrol is more than $2 a litre and diesel is more than $3 a litre, Australians know you shouldn’t spend more than you need to on your fuel bill.

“(Spending) $20 million lecturing them about how to drive is the last thing they need in a crisis like this.”

Curtin University sustainability expert Peter Newman criticised the ads, saying similar campaigns had been evaluated in the past and shown to have virtually no impact.

He also described as “desperately stupid” a West Australian government plan to develop a state-based diesel stockpile, independent of national fuel reserves.

“It’s going to be very expensive and difficult to even access that (extra) diesel and petrol (on the global market),” Professor Newman told AAP.

In comparison, he said it was a “no-brainer” for Australia to speed up the transition to electrified transport.

“We can be a world leader in that, not a world leader in how much (petrol and diesel) we can store up,” Prof Newman said.

It comes as Mr Albanese prepares for a four-day visit to Brunei and Malaysia to meet the two Asian nations’ leaders in an attempt to safeguard the flow of petrol and diesel.

Both nations play important roles in Australia’s fuel-supply chains and the trip will build on a recent visit to another vital exporter, Singapore.

The prime minister said the talks would be critical for ensuring fuel continued to flow in Australia, noting Brunei shipped about nine per cent of the nation’s diesel while Malaysia was the third-biggest supplier of fuel.

“This is why you engage with partners in our region,” he told ABC TV.

“One of the themes of this is that people recognise that we’ve got to work together at this difficult time.”

Foreign Minister Penny Wong will also meet her counterparts from Malaysia and Brunei on the four-day visit.