Photo highlights Australia's looming petrol problem: 'Ouch'
Australians are feeling the pinch at the pump – and it's about to get worse.
The price at the bowser has been creeping up across the country, again surging past $2 a litre.
According to PetrolSpy Australia – an app and online service which tracks the price of petrol stations – all stations in the Sydney area were above $2 on Saturday with the most expensive, a BP in Edgecliff, advertising at $2.25 for E10 petrol and $2.28 for unleaded 91.
In Melbourne, the situation was even worse.
While some stations were actually offering petrol below $2 a litre, multiple service stations in the city and Melbourne's east were charging as much as $2.39 for unleaded petrol.
Melbourne man Daniel Bowen, an advocate for public transport and a campaigner with the Public Transport Users Association, shared an image of the eye-watering prices on Twitter on Saturday.
"Ouch," he said of the expensive price tag.
"And this is with the 22 cent excise cut – which is costing $2.7b. A better outcome would be governments investing more in walking, cycling and public transport, so more people can avoid fuel costs completely."
Mr Bowen was referring to the 50 per cent cut in the 44c/litre fuel excise which the Morrison government introduced ahead of the election as a six month reprieve for motorists. However that measure is due to end in September which will, theoretically, see prices jump by 22 cents.
"For the first time in my life I paid over $100 for a tank of fuel on Thursday. I didn’t need another reason not to use my car but I would not want to be entirely car dependent at those prices," one person replied on Twitter.
"Colleague of mine filled up for $300 this week," another claimed.
Ouch. And this is with the 22 cent excise cut - which is costing $2.7b.
A better outcome would be governments investing more in walking, cycling and public transport, so more people can avoid fuel costs completely.⛽️💰 pic.twitter.com/W6WViDmCiI— Daniel Bowen (@danielbowen) July 2, 2022
Has the cut in the petrol tax really been passed on?
In June, the national average price for unleaded petrol hit its second highest level in history, not far removed from the record price registered shortly before the federal budget in May.
You could be forgiven for questioning whether the 22 cents had been passed onto consumers.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) has been monitoring petrol prices since the excise cut came into effect, and released its latest update on Friday, July 1.
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"After the cut in fuel excise came into effect on 30 March 2022, ACCC monitoring found significant falls in retail fuel prices in all capital cities and the vast majority of regional locations," it said.
"After 6 weeks, the influence of the lag between changes in wholesale prices and changes in retail prices had been incorporated into retail price movements, and the cuts to fuel excise had clearly been passed on to a large extent."
The consumer watchdog put the recent price rises largely down to the war in Ukraine and a corresponding spike in the international benchmark refined petrol and diesel prices.
Will the government extend the cut in the fuel excise?
For Aussie families dealing with the rising cost of living, sadly petrol prices won't be getting cheaper any time soon.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers says it will be "incredibly hard" to continue the fuel tax relief indefinitely amid growing government debt and economic challenges like high inflation and falling real wages.
"(People) should assume that the petrol price relief comes off in September," he told a Guardian Australia podcast.
"Obviously, we factor in the conditions as they evolve, and the budget and all of the rest of it.
"But nothing has substantially changed to make me think that we could continue that indefinitely, or even for a substantially longer period than September."
Mr Chalmers said the challenge posed by inflation, which reached an annual rate of 5.1 per cent in the March quarter – with expectations it will soon exceed 7 per cent – was "incredibly serious" but he didn't believe Australia would return to a 1970s-style wage-price spiral.
"If we can get through this difficult period - however long it goes for, six or twelve months, or whatever it might be - I think our opportunities still outweigh our challenges after that, but we need to get through this period first," he said.
with AAP
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