A service station in Melbourne’s south-east offered a rare opportunity for motorists to fill up at under a dollar per liter, drawing large crowds and highlighting the burden of Australia’s fuel excise taxes.
For one hour on Dec. 18, APCO in Cranbourne West sold unleaded petrol at just 99.9 cents per liter, a price not seen for almost two decades.
The promotional stunt, organized by the Libertarian Party, aimed to protest the government’s fuel taxes, which currently added 55 cents per liter to the cost of petrol, reported 9News.
Motorists were eager to take advantage of the cheap fuel, with many arriving early, jerry cans in hand.
Jasmine, who managed to fill up her V8 Commodore, shared how rising prices of fuel have impacted her.
“I can hardly drive this car. I drive it once a week now because I can’t afford to,” she said.
Another motorist also made sure to get in on time to avail the cheap fuel.
“It’s ridiculous, I’m on a pension so you have to think, how much out of that pension fortnight have I got to spend on that fuel,” she said.
The stunt received mixed reactions, with David Limbrick, a Libertarian Party MP, expressing his frustration with the rising cost of fuel and taxes.
“I think it really highlights that government is just gouging the prices of people so much, whether its through excise taxes and other taxes,” Limbrick argued. “And I’m just wrapped that a small number of people are going to get this discount today.”
However, Peter Khoury from the NRMA cautioned that while the low price was a welcome sight, the message could be misleading.
“The numbers don’t add up, we look at average prices when we think about petrol prices,” he said. “But we need the excise the money raised from the fuel excise should go into and does go into improving the roads and making them safer.”
