Tassie is swindled
THE consumer watchdog has conceded Tassie motorists are paying too much for petrol — but says all it can do about it is to urge people to shop around.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s latest fuel price report showed petrol is almost 20c more expensive than mainland cities.
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Federal Parliament yesterday that investigations had found no breaches of the law in relation to Tasmania’s higher petrol prices.
HOBART’S motorists were slugged with the highest fuel prices for 10 months in December, forking out more at the bowser than any of Australia’s major cities, according to a new report.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s December quarter report on fuel prices showed Hobart motorists paid 161.7 cents per litre of petrol in December — almost 20 cents more per litre than in Austra- lia’s five largest cities. An ACCC spokesman said yesterday Tasmanians were paying too much for fuel and encouraged people to shop around to promote competition among petrol stations.
“Factors that may lead to relatively higher prices in Australia’s smaller capital cities like Hobart, Canberra and Darwin are similar to those factors influencing prices in regional locations,” the ACCC spokesman said.
“This includes a lower level of local competition, lower volumes of fuel sold, distance/lo- cation factors, and lower convenience store sales.”
Clark independent MHR Andrew Wilkie met with ACCC chairman Rod Sims this week to encourage the body to act on the state’s “outrageous fuel prices”.
“I made it abundantly clear to him that Tasmanians are being blatantly ripped off and are mightily unhappy about it,” Mr Wilkie said.
“Mr Sims explained that the ACCC can monitor fuel prices but simply doesn’t have the power to intervene in the market. I find this absurd and will be lobbying the federal Treasurer to give the ACCC more teeth to step in and stop consumers being ripped off.”
Treasurer Josh Frydenberg told Federal Parliament yesterday that investigations had found no breaches of the law in relation to Tasmania’s higher petrol prices.
“Over the last week in Hobart the prices varied — with the highest price being 9c higher than the lowest price,” Mr Frydenberg said.
“It’s up to consumers to put the pressure on and to shop around.”