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<\/p>\nThe opposition is promising to cut fuel costs when global prices spike, saying the measure would slash about $15 off the average tank of petrol.<\/p>\n
Under the policy announced today, the Coalition said it would halve the fuel excise when the global price of Brent crude oil averages $US100 a barrel over two weeks.<\/p>\n
Opposition Leader Angus Taylor said the initiative, called Fuel Price Shield, would be “fully funded” through the Coalition’s policy of cutting back the tobacco excise.<\/p>\n
“Fuel Price Shield is all about providing relief at the bowser when it really counts,” Mr Taylor said in Canberra.<\/p>\n
“When we see two weeks where the price has averaged over $[US]100 a barrel, which means we’re getting up towards $3 a litre at the bowser, there will be relief for Australians under a Coalition government.”<\/p>\n
He said Australian motorists were feeling pain at the pump, amid a re-escalation of war in the Middle East pushing up the price of petrol.<\/p>\n
“We want to see $15 off a tank of petrol, 27 cents a litre, and that’s fully funded through our cut to the tobacco excise,” Mr Taylor said.<\/p>\n
Petrol prices have risen again amid a re-escalation of conflict in the Middle East. (ABC News: Lucy Murray)<\/p>\n
The Coalition’s policy to cut the tobacco excise by 80 per cent<\/a> would raise $8 billion, according to modelling from the Parliamentary Budget Office.<\/p>\n Illegal sales of cigarettes have cost the budget billions in lost revenue, and the Coalition’s policy assumes consumers would purchase legal cigarettes instead if the prices were lowered.<\/p>\n Coalition unveils plan to slash tobacco tax<\/a><\/p>\n A future Coalition government would slash the tobacco excise by 80 per cent, legalise and tax vapes and nicotine pouches, and bolster law enforcement to shut down the illicit trade.<\/p>\n Mr Taylor said the Coalition would also eliminate the 32-cent road user charge for heavy vehicles to take pressure off the cost of transporting goods.<\/p>\n Treasurer Jim Chalmers dismissed the opposition’s fuel policy, saying it was “uncapped and unfunded”.<\/p>\n He told News24’s Sunday Agenda the policy had more to do with “polling numbers than petrol prices”, suggesting the Coalition was under pressure from One Nation.<\/p>\n Economist Chris Richardson said most economists had consistently said cutting the fuel tax was a “bad band-aid” that worsened inflation.\u00a0<\/p>\n “That’s the thing about a fuel tax cut, it simply adds to the amount of money sloshing around Australia,” he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n “It may reduce your bowser bill, but that comes at the cost of higher prices for everything else.<\/p>\n “It’s a dumb policy at the best of times, and particularly dumb right now.”<\/p>\n He said both sides had either enacted or proposed fuel tax cuts in recent years, and both “have slagged off the other side for doing it”. \u00a0<\/p>\n Some economists fear the step would be inflationary. (ABC News: Erin Parke)<\/p>\n But Luci Ellis, Westpac’s economic spokesperson, told ABC’s 7.30 last week the experience of the last fuel excise cut suggested that such a measure could help curb inflation.<\/p>\n “[In June and July] petrol prices came down, and that actually stopped all those fuel levies and extra price increases coming on in other prices, so if we can nip that in the bud, that would be a good outcome,” she said.<\/p>\n She said because Australia was also an energy exporter, increasing gas prices would result in extra tax revenue for the government.<\/p>\n “[A fuel excise tax] is one way to redistribute what would otherwise be more tax revenue from the government,” she said last week.<\/p>\n Government not considering future fuel excise cuts<\/p>\n![\"A](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/7f741ef92ecbb40c837de2e3d8934ce2.jpeg\")
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