The newly-elected Federal Government says it does not plan to extend the six-month half-price fuel excise introduced by the outgoing treasurer.
The cost of petrol is likely to rise at the end of September 2022 – despite current record highs – once the six-month half-price fuel excise introduced by the outgoing government expires.
Newly-elected Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers told the Ten Network’s The Project panel: “We’ve inherited a pretty tricky set of economic circumstances. We do have inflation high and rising. We do have interest rates rising (and) we’ve got real wages going backwards.
“All of my meetings so far … with the treasury have been about how we start the important work towards an October budget … so that we’re getting an economic dividend from all this money that’s been borrowed.
“What we are going to try and do … is to try and be up front about these economic challenges.
“They are pretty serious when it comes to inflation, or falling real wages, or debt, or the international environment … and it will be difficult to get on top of them.
“But we will put our best foot forward. We will work around the clock every day to make sure that we’re making the best decisions we can to responsibly manage all of this uncertainty.”
When asked about the likelihood of extending the 22.1 cents per-litre fuel excise cut – which amounts to half the full 44.2 cents per-litre charge – introduced by the former government in March 2022, Mr Chalmers said: “It was announced on budget night by my predecessor that relief will come off in September.
“I’ve tried to be pretty up front with people and say it would be difficult for us to extend that forever.
“It’s a very expensive bit of cost of living relief, necessary obviously in the near term. But we’ve got to weigh up all of our priorities.
“When it comes to September (28th) we will do what we can, but we’ll do that within the constraints of a responsible budget that recognises we do have a lot of debt already.
“And so we’ve got to weigh up and work out what are the best things that we can do that get the best bang for buck from any money that we might spend out of the budget.”
The next morning, newly-elected Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles told Channel Seven’s Sunrise program: “We’ve made our position clear and it is not our intention to change that [prematurely end fuel excise relief].”
“We think there are other ways in which we can deal with … the cost of living. It is a big issue, people are finding it harder to make ends meet.
“But not for a moment have we suggested we’ll be able to repair everything overnight.
“You have lost a decade of productivity. You can’t fix that in one week. But … we are starting that right now and we will get the country on a path to prosperity.”
The six-month half-price fuel excise – from 44.2 cents per litre to 22.1 cents per litre – was designed to provide temporary relief at the bowser amid record high petrol prices globally.
Although the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) says most petrol companies and retailers have passed-on the savings, the cost of fuel at the bowser remains at record highs.
The 22.2 cents per litre saving was introduced at 12.01am on 30 March 2022 and is due to run until 11.59pm on 28 September 2022.
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