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The former head of Australia\u2019s consumer watchdog has torpedoed petrol stations\u2019 excuses for raising prices already because of the war in Iran, warning that fuel companies seeking to use the conflict as a smokescreen should be investigated.<\/p>\n
While fuel prices have begun rising in Australia\u2019s two largest cities, some past $2.20 a litre, former Australian Competition and Consumer Commission chair Rod Sims has said attempts to link the rises to the Middle East conflict do not add up.<\/p>\n
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/5f56901a575f8173b5ab7748d195966973448a51.jpeg\")
Photo: Oscar Colman<\/p>\n
Despite oil prices jumping 10 per cent during the past week amid the widening fighting in the Middle East, experts say it takes at least a week for global market swings to reach Australian bowsers.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere can\u2019t be any cost increases flowing through yet,\u201d said Sims, the longest-serving chair in the ACCC\u2019s history. He labelled suggestions that this week\u2019s oil volatility has forced immediate price increases as \u201cjust not yet true\u201d, and \u201cmisleading to consumers\u201d.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m sure [the ACCC] will be looking at it very closely,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
The war in Iran has intensified concerns over global supplies of crude oil<\/a> \u2013 the natural resource refined into petrol and diesel \u2013 and is expected to ultimately push up transport costs for consumers in Australia, even if the conflict is short-lived.<\/p>\n However, a new analysis<\/a> from the National Roads and Motorists Association says more than half of the service stations in Sydney and Melbourne have moved to lift prices prematurely, selling regular unleaded for 5\u00a2 to 10\u00a2 above expected levels at the peak of both cities\u2019 price cycles. This comes despite a warning from the Albanese government that price gouging will not be tolerated.<\/p>\n Australia\u2019s major petrol-station operators \u2013 Ampol, Viva Energy, BP and ExxonMobil \u2013 all refused to comment.<\/p>\n Australian fuel prices go through cycles of varying durations, during which retailers progressively discount their fuel by a few cents each day to compete for market share until prices bottom out, then spike again by as much as 25\u00a2 to 40\u00a2 a litre in one day. Melbourne and Sydney coincidentally reached the peak of their regular price cycles just as the US and Israel launched their attacks on Iran.<\/p>\n Industry representatives for Australian fuel retailers said global markets for refined fuels had been rocked by \u201csharp price increases in recent days\u201d, and price cycles had generally been trending up since February.<\/p>\n \u201cFuel retailers don\u2019t all buy fuel the same way. Some purchase on a daily spot price, while others buy on contracts based on seven-day, 14-day, 21-day or 28-day price averages,\u201d said Rowan Lee, chief executive of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association.<\/p>\n \u201cThis means some retailers see international price changes immediately, while others experience them with a delay.\u201d<\/p>\n NRMA spokesman Peter Khoury said average fuel prices across most of both cities\u2019 service stations were \u201cway over where they should be\u201d at this stage of the cycles, given it was too early for so many retailers to have felt the impact of a 5.5\u00a2 rise in wholesale prices since the Iran conflict began over the weekend.<\/p>\n \u201cNeither a daily spot price nor a 14- day contract purchase justifies half the service stations in Australia\u2019s three largest capital cities currently selling fuel at 60\u00a2 or 70\u00a2 per litre higher than what they bought it for at the terminal gate price, depending on when they restocked their tanks,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Related Article The average regular unleaded price in Melbourne on Thursday was $2.09, NRMA data shows, while Sydney has become home to the most expensive fuel in the country, with an average of $2.13 per litre<\/p>\n Two Sydney outlets were charging almost $2.28 a litre for unleaded on Thursday afternoon, and a growing number of retailers were blowing past the $2 mark.<\/p>\n \u201cHalf [of the service stations] are exorbitant right now, meaning the other half … is seeing a rush to those service stations because the discrepancy is so high,\u201d Khoury said.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clearly working against Sydney motorists at a time when they can afford it the least.\u201d<\/p>\n The Business Briefing newsletter delivers major stories, exclusive coverage and expert opinion. Sign up to get it every weekday morning<\/a>.<\/p>\n Save<\/p>\n You have reached your maximum number of saved items.<\/p>\n Remove items from your saved list<\/a> to add more.<\/p>\n![\"Rod](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/f9b9c119859cd42787c6d72841a8c8e5b7a59354.jpeg\")
Rod Sims chaired the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission from 2011 to 2022.Alex Ellinghausen<\/p>\n![\"Any](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/03\/69f2ef5abd33ad1b89a75ce361365287b2311000.jpeg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"Nick](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/744a786804b4da42856a965fea442edb1e4c4780.png\")
Nick Toscano<\/a> is a business reporter for The Age and Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via X<\/a> or email<\/a>.![\"Daniel](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/1768921155_20_4da17769eb0998efdaa4742a9c9d5dc6f815d051.png\")
Daniel Lo Surdo<\/a> is a breaking news reporter for The Sydney Morning Herald. He previously helmed the national news live blog for The Sydney Morning Herald and The Age.Connect via email<\/a>.From our partners<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Save You have reached your maximum number of saved items. Remove items from your saved list to add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":519967,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99],"class_list":{"0":"post-519966","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-business"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519966","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=519966"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/519966\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/519967"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=519966"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=519966"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=519966"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}