February 26, 2015
The RACQ has called on the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) to act following the release today of its quarterly report into Australian petrol prices.
RACQ spokesperson Renee Smith said the report justified the RACQ’s campaign over the past few years against fuel companies ripping off regional motorists
“This ACCC report highlights the problems RACQ has been campaigning against,” Ms Smith said.
“Regional motorists pay more than city drivers and Brisbane drivers pay more than those in the other State capitals.”
The report showed that between June and December 2014, retail prices in the five largest cities decreased by 28.1 cents per litr (cpl) to 123.8 cpl. However, over the same period, retail prices in regional locations decreased by only 16.0 cpl to 141.3 cpl
“The key question now is, what will the ACCC and the Federal Government do about it?” Ms Smith said.
“The government may have given the ACCC more powers to monitor prices, but when will they give the ACCC the power to do something about price gouging?
“For months last year the difference between Brisbane fuel prices and those in regional Queensland were substantial.
“While we all benefited from lower international prices, there was definitely a discrimination against regional motorists.”
RACQ also noted that Brisbane motorists suffered compared with those in the other major cities across Australia.
“The ACCC report shows that fuel companies charged an average margin of 11cpl in Brisbane compared with the average of the major cities of 8cpl,” she said.
