Petrol price relief in sight following fuel tax reduction

Relief from rising petrol prices is expected imminently following the federal government’s reduction of the national fuel excise.

On Monday, the government announced that the fuel tax would be halved for three months.

The move to reduce the excise has been welcomed by the opposition, including Member for Parkes Jamie Chaffey who on Friday last week was among a chorus of Coalition MPs calling for immediate relief.

Mr Chaffey had called on the federal government to deliver urgent relief, saying that families and small business in his electorate had been hit hard as a result of the worsening fuel crisis.

“Families and businesses in the electorate of Parkes are paying more for everything, and now they are being hit at the bowser as well,” Mr Chaffey said.

“Inflation has already beaten this government, and now a national fuel crisis is making it worse.

“Across the Parkes electorate, we are seeing independent fuel distributors who have no fuel to supply, farmers unable to farm and families who will not be able to get together at Christmas. This huge increase or unavailability of fuel is hitting farmers, industry, small businesses and families.

“There will be a huge flow-on effect in the form of higher prices for all Australians if farmers cannot farm, and transporters can’t get the goods that are available to market.

“When a government cannot manage the basics, Australians pay the price.”

The Coalition also placed pressure on the government to act on the petrol crisis through its online fuel shortage tracker.

The website, www.nofuelhere.com.au, allowed Australians to quickly log fuel shortages at their local service station. Reports are aggregated to provide MPs and Senators with hard evidence of where shortages are occurring and how severely communities are being impacted.

“The Albanese government says there’s no shortage – just a distribution problem,” Mr Chaffey said following the website’s launch.

“That is cold comfort if you’re in Broken Hill or Dubbo or Lightning Ridge and the local servos are out of unleaded or diesel, or are having to charge exorbitant prices. Regional Australia can’t wait for Canberra to catch up.”

A joint statement released on behalf of Anthony Albanese, Prime Minister, Jim Chalmers, Treasurer, Chris Bowen, Minister for Climate Change and Energy, and Catherine King, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government, said the halving of the excise would reduce the cost of fuel by 26.3 cents per litre.

“This will reduce the cost of a 65L tank of fuel by nearly $19,” the joint statement read.

“The spike in fuel prices as a result of the war in the Middle East is hurting Australians and causing financial stress. This will help to provide some relief.

The halving of the fuel excise will commence from April 1 and run to June 30.

“Further, the Albanese government will reduce the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge to zero for three months to help truckies continue their vital work for our nation. The government will also defer the next scheduled increase in the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge by six months.

“Australians are encouraged to use public transport wherever possible to help conserve fuel for the regions, and we welcome existing moves to cut the costs of public transport.

“The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) will continue to monitor fuel prices to help ensure that the lower excise rate is fully passed on at the bowser.”