Speaking at the National Press Club, Anthony Albanese said the GST changes had already been made law.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want this added relief to start showing up at petrol stations straight away,\u201d the prime minister said.<\/p>\n
Petrol and diesel prices had already dropped<\/a> by about 20 cents, as retailers passed on the excise cut in unexpectedly rapid fashion.<\/p>\n Every capital\u2019s average prices were back below 240 cents a litre for unleaded and 310 cents for diesel, new data from NRMA showed.<\/p>\n Unleaded prices were averaging 236.6 cents a litre in Sydney, 237.7 in Melbourne, 236.4 cents in Brisbane, 232 cents in Hobart and 234.5 cents in Canberra.<\/p>\n State and territory leaders agreed to the GST deal at a meeting on Thursday.<\/p>\n A joint communique from premiers and chief ministers said that governments \u201cshould not benefit from the extra GST paid on higher fuel prices, but should instead ensure that this amount is passed back to the community in a way that supports them at a challenging time\u201d.<\/p>\n Chris Minns, the NSW premier, said \u201cwe welcome the agreement to return the extra GST collected on higher fuel prices back to motorists\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s some relief to drivers and helps take the edge off higher fuel costs.\u201d<\/p>\n Monday\u2019s national cabinet meeting flagged a plan to return GST \u201cwindfall gains\u201d to Australians, which was followed by days of wrangling between state and territory leaders over how to implement the measure.<\/p>\n Halving the fuel excise will cost $1.5bn, while returning GST on fuel to motorists is expected to cost a further $400m.<\/p>\n The Queensland treasurer, David Janetzki, said the state had \u201cplayed our part\u201d in striking a federal GST deal to further lower fuel prices.<\/p>\n Queensland had been the holdout state, having previously said it wanted to use additional GST windfall from higher fuel prices on direct cost-of-living relief for locals.<\/p>\n It signed on to the national fuel deal on Thursday.<\/p>\n \u201cFrom the beginning it has been Queensland\u2019s position to forego windfalls from higher fuel prices and how this can be calculated, collected and distributed has been facilitated after today\u2019s meeting,\u201d Janetzki said.<\/p>\n \u201cWork will continue through the budget process to keep delivering targeted cost -of-living measures Queenslanders can rely on.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Australian PM says \u2018next few months may not be easy\u2019 in rare address to the nation \u2013 video<\/p>\n