“It has played a really important role helping to take some of the sting out of the cost-of-living pressures,” he said.<\/p>\n
“It was never the government’s intention for that to be permanent.”<\/p>\n
What is the fuel excise?<\/p>\n
The fuel excise is a sales tax levied by the government on petrol and diesel.<\/p>\n
It is paid wholesale by the fuel importer and seller and then passed on to consumers at the pump.<\/p>\n
It is indexed twice a year.<\/p>\n
After the last indexation, the fuel excise was set at 52.6 cents per litre, according to the Australian Automobile Association.<\/p>\n
How has the excise changed?PeriodExcise rate ($\/litre)Equivalent discount ($\/litre)Pre-Apr 1$0.5260Apr 1\u2013Jun 30$0.206$0.32Jul 1\u2013Aug 2$0.366$0.16Aug 3 onwards$0.5370Price changes won’t be immediate<\/p>\n
Spokesperson for Queensland’s peak motoring body, RACQ, Ian Jeffreys, said prices at the pump may not rise instantly.<\/p>\n
“What we saw back in July when the excise cut was extended by a lesser rate, it took about a week to 10 days before that price flowed through to the retail price,” he said.<\/p>\n
“The excise is charged at a wholesale level, so currently our wholesale price for petrol around our capital cities is about $1.83 per litre, and that will increase to about $2 per litre for regular unleaded.<\/p>\n
“Then for diesel it will probably push the wholesale price to about $2.35 to $2.40 per litre.”<\/p>\n
After August’s indexation is applied the rate will increase to about 53.7 cents per litre, according to the Australian Tax Office.<\/p>\n
Economists against fuel excise cut<\/p>\n
Economists have warned since March that the excise cut was not a good idea over the long term.<\/p>\n
Track the latest petrol and diesel prices around Australia<\/a><\/p>\n See what’s happening with petrol and diesel prices near you, updated constantly.<\/p>\n The excise cut was predicted to cost Australian taxpayers $2.55 billion and economists warn it could further increase inflation<\/a>.<\/p>\n Scott French, a senior lecturer in economics at the University of New South Wales, said interfering with the way fuel is priced is “not the best way to offer relief”.<\/p>\n “By lowering the price they’re interfering with the signal of price increases which is to tell consumers to use less,” he said.<\/p>\n “The excise cut is pushing the consumer in the other direction.”<\/p>\n He said that the price cut is not encouraging drivers to use less fuel.<\/p>\n “I think politically and economically there’s reason to want to offer some relief, but interfering with the price mechanism is not the best way to do it,” Dr French said.<\/p>\n Dr Jeffreys said it was a tough situation as the excise paid for essential government services.<\/p>\n “The cost of living relief has certainly been welcomed but the excise is a significant source of income for the government,” he said.<\/p>\n “I think it is a difficult call for the federal government to make.”<\/p>\n Fuel supply more stable<\/p>\n While the end of the excise cut will push prices up, the supply chain is more resilient than it was when the US\u2013Iran war broke out in February.<\/p>\n Macquarie University energy market researcher Lurian De Mello said despite a spike in prices last week, where crude oil reached US$100 per barrel, overall prices had “remained fairly steady”.<\/p>\n “Singapore and South Korea and even China, Japan, Taiwan, Malaysia, Brunei, these countries have adjusted to alternative sources of oil,” he said.<\/p>\n “All of these countries that avoid the Strait of Hormuz have been able to produce extra oil and that’s helping our fuel supply chains over here.<\/p>\n “That’s an indication that there are alternative sources and the world doesn’t depend on the Middle East. So that is a providing a bit of a buffer.”<\/p>\n The price of oil has risen again amid renewed fighting in the Middle East. (ABC News: Ebony ten Broeke)<\/p>\n Statistics from the federal government show Australia has increased its national stockpile as of July 21 to:<\/p>\n 42 days of petrol38 days of diesel32 days of jet fuel<\/p>\n Federal energy minister Chris Bowen said this week that motorists could have confidence in Australia’s fuel supplies despite the uncertainty in the Middle East.<\/p>\n “One thing Australians can be certain about is that our fuel supply continues to be solid and secure,” he said.<\/p>\n Diesel supply and prices a concern<\/p>\n Dr De Mello said, initially, the fuel excise cut was a good move to provide temporary relief while the government shored up supply.<\/p>\n But he believes a greater cut for diesel would have helped.<\/p>\n “There’s a lot of oil around the world suitable for making petrol but the oil that’s suitable for making diesel and jet fuels, there’s more fear of that being scarce,” he said.<\/p>\n Diesel prices did not fall by as much as petrol prices after the excise cut, in fact they climbed to a higher level in the weeks that followed.<\/p>\n “My recommendation would be to hold off on [cutting the excise price of] diesel for another month. The excise coming back on petrol should be okay as long as petrol doesn’t go above that $2.20 mark,” Dr De Mello said.<\/p>\n He said high diesel prices will continue to flow onto the agricultural and freight sector and keep grocery prices high.<\/p>\n How do I shop around for fuel?<\/p>\n The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission urges consumers to shop around for fuel and consult with fuel apps and websites in their state:<\/p>\n New South Wales: NSW Fuel Check<\/a> website and appAustralian Capital Territory: NSW Fuel Check<\/a> websiteNorthern Territory: MyFuel NT<\/a> websiteTasmania: FuelCheck TAS<\/a> website and appVictoria: Service Victoria<\/a> appWestern Australia: WA FuelWatch<\/a> website and appQueensland: Queensland does not have a dedicated government fuel price app, but you can search for commercial fuel price websites and apps that are supported by data under the Queensland government’s fuel price reporting arrangementsSouth Australia: Search for commercial fuel price websites and apps supported by data under the South Australian government’s fuel price reporting arrangementsLoading…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Drivers can expect a price increase at the petrol pump following the end of the federal government’s fuel…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":820219,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[64,63,99,14827,49923,35431,5520,12638],"class_list":["post-838542","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-business","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-business","tag-cut","tag-excise","tag-fuel","tag-petrol","tag-price"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838542","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=838542"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/838542\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/820219"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=838542"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=838542"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=838542"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Bowsers](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/3689bdb24377263921ba43135f6ed211.jpeg\")
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