MyFuel prices up instead of down

LETTER TO THE EDITOR
 
Sir – The government needs to stop the exorbitant increase in fuel prices witnessed by Territorians since the introduction of the MyFuel website.
 
I travelled by road to Alice Springs last week and saw a variation in prices from $1.39.9 to $1.97.
 
When will the Government admit they got it wrong with the MyFuel web site which requires retailers to publish retail fuel prices?
 
Publishing real time fuel prices actually helps retailers to effectively fix prices by following the price signals from the larger companies.
 
Because all retailers have an incentive to charge the highest possible price, they all follow the leader, resulting in dramatically higher prices at the pump for Territory drivers.
 
When the Labor government came to power in August 2016 Unleaded 91 fuel cost on average $1 per litre. Today the price of fuel is up to $1.44 per litre a whopping increase of 44 cents per litre.
 
This profit and margin reporting is precisely what the CLP Government proposed following the fuel summit that was held in 2015.
 
The Labor Government also had a golden opportunity to bring down fuel prices by incentivising independent fuel retailers like Fuel Xpress to enter the Territory market, through incentives such as waiving tax duty, payroll tax breaks and other measures.
 
Territorians are already doing it tough. We need to grow the population and encourage small business growth.
 
In 2014 we brought together key stakeholders in the distribution and supply of fuel and pressured the suppliers to lower pump prices.
 
We also prepared fuel price disclosure legislation which also restrained fuel companies from gouging.
 
The outcome was that the Territory went from having the highest fuel prices in the country to the lowest.
 
 
Gary Higgins
Opposition Leader