Critics dismissed the proposal as a last-ditch effort to win votes ahead of Queensland’s state election in October. But public opinion on how the government should get involved in markets may be shifting.

Queensland’s Labor government turned heads last week with a bold new election promise. If returned to power, it would set up 12 state-owned petrol stations and limit fuel price rises to just five cents a litre on any given day.

The proposal certainly tapped into a pain point for Queenslanders – Brisbane topped national petrol price rankings last year.

But it was quickly met with a predictable pile on from opposing political commentators, industry bodies and some economists, attracting labels like “risky” and “dumb and stupid”.

Mark McKenzie, chief executive of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association, called it a “wildly bizarre intervention” in the retail fuel market.

So is the Queensland premier really out of his mind, trying to win votes less than three months out from an election? Or is there actually some merit to this proposal?

  • ZagorathEnglish
    2·
    3 months ago

    Yes, your comment was the one out of four that wasn’t stupid.

      • ZagorathEnglish
        3·
        3 months ago

        Ah yeah, your instance is defederated from Beehaw, which is where one of the three errors came from. (They said “water/sewer systems”.)

        • Jumuta@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
          2·
          3 months ago

          oh right, I forgot beehaw defederated from world and shit because of mass signups

          that was so long ago, do you know how beehaw is doing?

          • ZagorathEnglish
            2·
            3 months ago

            I couldn’t tell you how they’re doing with much confidence, but their communities all seem pretty good to me.