The high price of fuel in Outback areas continues to be a major concern for motoring organisations … and a major pain in the pocket for grey nomads.
The RACQ’s Annual Fuel Price Report has shown Longreach and Mount Isa as being the two most expensive places to fill up across Queensland last year, with unleaded petrol (ULP) averaging 144 cents per litre (cpl) and 142.7cpl respectively.
The RACQ has responded by urging retailers in western Queensland to give motorists a fair go, and to only charge a reasonable margin.
“We’re seeing indicative retail margins of 12cpl in Mount Isa and 15cpl in Longreach, driving up those prices,” said RACQ spokesperson, Renee Smith. “If we look to Cloncurry, we see the highest retail margin in Queensland at 21.4cpl.”
She said that average prices in regional Queensland had risen throughout last year.
“There was an increase in the global oil price last year, which impacted prices right across Queensland,” she said. “As regional Queensland isn’t subjected to a price cycle, where there are highs and lows, it is so important that drivers are being savvy and shopping at servos who are keeping prices fair.”
Meanwhile, The State’s peak motoring body has welcomed the Liberal opposition’s support for a real-time fuel data system.
LNP Leader Deb Frecklington has said that, if the party wins government in 2010, it will introduce legislation that will require all retailers to reveal their pricing, allowing motorists to make informed decisions about when and where they fill the tank. The data would then be available to third parties who want to build apps to inform Queensland motorists of the cheapest prices.
In welcoming the LNP policy, the RACQ said real-time fuel price systems were already in place in New South Wales, Western Australia and the Northern Territory.
“A more transparent system will enable drivers to make decisions about which retailers they should give their business to,” said the RACQ’s Renee Smith. “Not only will this help motorists to save money but it will force servos selling at a higher price to lower their bowser costs in order to get customers.”
She said it was time the battle between motorists and retailers for a fair price at the bowser took place on a ‘level playing field’.
That is the Normal price around the South West of Vic, funny when wholesale prices go up so does fuel but not when it comes down with the same speed.
189.9cpl at Nullabor Roadhouse
I remember in 1976 travelling from Mt Isa to the Northern Territory. Stopped at Cammoweal for fuel. The pump price said 52c but that was for 1/2 1 litre. $1.04 cents per litre in 1976. Hasn’t gone up that much in 40 years.
that is less than the normal in the ACT
If your travelling north in Queensland dont forget the Kybong roadhouse south of Gympie you can still park for thr night there and the fuel is still resonable 1DOLLAR 31 A LITRE deisal and you can still get a feed at the roadhouse if you dont want to cook then nip round the back of the restaurant and visit Matilda snes still there
The price of fuel around the country and the artificial levels set by the oil cartel – which the ACCC seems incapable of restricting – are a constant source of amazement to me. The prime example is the “fuel price cycle” here in SE Qld. I drove back from the Hunter region of NSW at the end of last year, travelling the New England Hwy and was amazed that the prices seemed to drop the further I got away from Newcastle. I tanked up at Tenterfield and was then able to drive through to Brisbane only to see the price back in Brisvegas be well and truly above that of what I paid at Tenterfield! Sorry, but when I studied economics back in the late 1970’s the price of a good or service was determined by both input costs and demand, plus profit for the seller. One would have to safely assume, then, that higher prices in a bigger market where economies of scale and competition, combined with the absence of higher input costs for transport, would mean the price in Brissy should be far lower than rural NSW…unless there was massive profit-gouging going on by the oil cartel. I don’t have a degree in economics but even I can work this out, yet our political representatives and their statutory authorities continue through numerous enquiries are unable to do diddley-squat about it. Have a read of the ACCC’s investigation from Sept 2017 – https://www.accc.gov.au/system/files/Report%20on%20the%20Australian%20petroleum%20market%E2%80%94September%20quarter%202017.pdf
We paid $1.38 for LPG at Coolah NSW after missing the main depots in Dubbo…2017…avg price elsewhere was .73cpl ☹️