Local motorists can expect to feel more pain thanks to ongoing manipulation of petrol shopper docket schemes.
Local federal MP Scott Buchholz said the Coalition has written to the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to investigate fuel discount dockets following allegations the dockets have been used to hide an unjustified increase in the cost of petrol.
Mr Buchholz said new research by the Australian Automobile Association (AAA) showed that the big supermarkets were hiking their prices to cover the 8 cent a litre fuel offers.
Given the mysteries of petrol pricing for consumers and the resources and profile of a dedicated Petrol Commissioner, you would have thought the ACCC would have engaged in a proactive and unprompted examination of the impacts of double discounting, Mr Buchholz said.
The concern here is that shopper dockets could be manipulated to the long term disadvantage of motorists, by raising average gross retail margins.
Yesterday Commsec announced that petrol prices were set to jump by another 3 cents within a fortnight.
Mr Buchholz said the office of the petrol commissioner was a useless gimmick and should be scrapped.
The petrol commissioner is nothing more than window-dressing installed by the Rudd-Gillard Governments to give the illusion it was doing something about petrol prices after the failure of the $20 million FuelWatch scheme.
Just because you spend around $2 million a year having a Petrol Commissioner doesnt mean youre going to get results and the research conducted by the motoring associations proves it isnt working.
The latest shopper docket issue is further evidence of the need for a full root and branch review of competition policy and why the petrol commissioner role should be given the boot.
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We are not talking about the Packers or the Murdochs here. We are talking about older Australians who may be sick and do not wish to put themselves through the stress or the uncertainty of treatment through the public health system. We are talking about young parents with kids, trying to make sure their families are covered if the worst should happen. These are people who have made sacrifices in order to look after their own future and their own wellbeing.
For the Government to argue that these people are living so high on the hog that they can afford to cop a bit more financial pain shows just how out of touch they really are.
Mr Buchholz said none of the government’s means test-induced savings will be spent on alternative health programs.
They’re just propping up a government that otherwise would not be able to produce a budget surplus, he said.
Local households are paying a heavy price for Labors waste and incompetence and its failure to manage the budget.
