South Aussies lock up cars as Premier reveals plan for extra fuel price cut
The Premier has a new plan to see prices at bowsers dropped further as the fuel crisis sees a spike in locals finding alternative travel.
Around $40 million in state government GST revenue from rising fuel prices will be redirected to further lower the fuel excise, after a meeting of the Council for the Australian Federation agreement this morning.
The group is made up of Australia’s premiers, including SA’s Peter Malinauskas and chief ministers, with the move expected to reduce fuel prices by an additional 5.7 cents per litre, in addition to the 26.3 cent reduction already announced by the Commonwealth Government.
“With the agreement of all First Ministers, the Chair of CAF, the Hon Roger Cook MLA, has today written to the Prime Minister to request that the excise on fuel be reduced by an amount equivalent to a maximum of $400m in GST for the June quarter,” the agreement said.
Malinauskas said the decision was “a great outcome for South Australians”, noting that the PM was an “enthusiastic supporter of this approach”.
“We are using the GST windfall to put money directly back into people’s pockets,” he said.
“The Commonwealth’s excise cut is already starting to flow through to savings at the bowser and this decision by state and territory leaders will help drive prices down even further. This is the fastest way to get money back to motorists.”
Meanwhile, South Australians are adding a spike to public transport use and bike sales as concerns over the availability and price of fuel continue.
According to the latest Adelaide Metro data, in the week after Adelaide Fringe, there was a six per cent increase in people tapping on to buses, trains and trams compared to the same period last year.
This increase represents roughly 15,000 extra MetroCard tap-ons each, bringing the total average to more than 258,326 per weekday across the entire network.
Transport Minister Joe Szakacs said it was encouraging to see more South Australians using public transport and called on more to do so.
“Catching our trams, trains and buses has always been cheaper than driving. That is true now more than ever due to higher fuel prices brought on by the conflict in the Middle East,” he said.
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Szakacs said the state government had numerous policies to ease cost-of-living pressures.
“This includes abolishing public school fees and expanding the Seniors Card to all over 60s, which will provide a further 80,00 South Australians with free public transport. We’ve also made public transport cheaper for school students,” he said.
Bike SA business services manager Bailey Underwood said there were more people cycling, especially during peak hour, while 99 Bikes has seen a 136 per cent surge nationally in sales during the past week.
Underwood believed this was related to concerns around the availability and cost of fuel.
“It’s just a slight uptick – it’s not a full surge – but it is unusual for this time of year because as the days tend to get shorter and a little bit colder in the mornings, we usually notice a bit of a drop off,” Underwood said.
Underwood expected the trend to continue if the situation did not improve for motorists.
“We’re seeing quite a few early signs of people starting to take cycling as a very serious alternative for how they get to where they need to go, and reduce their fuel use and save on money,” he said.
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He also supported calls for pop-up bike lanes during the fuel crisis, as well as better bike parking facilities and more obvious cycling routes.
“Now’s a brilliant time to try something like this, see what we can do to support people to take up an alternative mode of transport during a fuel crisis, and give people the confidence to still come into the CBD as well,” he said.
Police are reporting an increase in fuel theft offences over the past few weeks among those continuing to travel by car.
Latest data from the SAPOL showed that on the week ending on Sunday, March 29, there were 141 fuel theft offences compared to 122 the week before.
This included 125 fuel theft offences in metropolitan Adelaide compared to 110 in the previous week.
In regional South Australia, there were 16 offences recorded last week compared to 12.
With a fuel tax cut kicking in yesterday, the average cost of Unleaded 91 in metropolitan Adelaide was around 229.9 cents per litre, while diesel was costing 298.9 cents per litre this morning.
Meanwhile, Tourism Industry Council of South Australia Shaun de Bruyn claimed things had turned around for the sector despite previous concerns from travellers over the availability of fuel.
“We’ve certainly seen consumer confidence coming back from last week, and we’re getting good feedback about Easter bookings,” de Bruyn said, adding that the government response and RAA live tracking app were helping.
But long-term tourism operator Dallas Coull – who owns See Adelaide & Beyond, Taste the Barossa, Taste the McLaren and Great Ocean Road & Beyond – said his businesses were still being impacted by numerous cancellations.
Coull told InDaily today that government messaging had put travellers’ minds at rest in the short-term, but was concerned about the long-term impacts of the fuel crisis.
“There’s still significant concern over the long-term access to diesel, especially when you’re operating like we are in regional areas, going over to Kangaroo Island and doing tours from Melbourne to Adelaide,” he said.
“This is just another thing that we’re going to have to dig deep to get through, and then once we get to the other side, things will be better.”
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