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?

  • No1English
    6·
    4 months ago

    I can’t see what the harm is. There couldn’t be any objection to more competition?

    I’m in Sydney, but the petrol shenanigans are atrociously obvious.

    I shit you not, there’s one BP station I go to that at the peak of a cycle can be 40c/l cheaper than every other BP station in the area. You know why? Because 200m down the road is an independent station that doesn’t seem to follow the price cycle.

    How is it that all BPs other stations in the area are 40c/l higher, and just this one BP up the road from the independent can afford to set it’s price 40c/l lower?

    The pattern becomes very obvious to spot.