Queensland Premier floats state-owned petrol stations in re-election bid
Cheaper fuel, that's what the Queensland premier is promising if the Labor government is re-elected in October. Steven Miles is proposing to set up a dozen state-owned fuel stations and regulate prices. But the policy has been slammed by the opposition as ill thought out.
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00:00Paying at the petrol pump has become more frequent.
00:05I used to pay $25 for half a tank, now I pay $50 or $60, so it's gone up a lot.
00:12The cost of fuel has soared in recent years, adding to pressure on household budgets.
00:18It is very clear that South East Queensland motorists in particular
00:21are paying the highest prices for fuel in Australia of any capital city.
00:25The Premier is promising relief if Labor wins the upcoming state election.
00:30What we've heard from Queenslanders is that they want to see bold action to address fuel prices.
00:35The plan includes setting up 12 state-owned petrol stations,
00:39legislating a ban on servos raising fuel prices more than once a day,
00:44and a trial to cap price increases to five cents a litre per day.
00:49We will put these petrol stations where competition needs to improve.
00:53We are confident that if we can lessen the impact of the fuel cycle,
00:57if we can shorten the duration of the fuel cycle,
01:00and encourage greater competition, that people will pay less for their fuel.
01:04Setting up the servos will cost $36 million,
01:08but Stephen Miles says the proposal isn't backed by internal modelling or research.
01:13This is an election commitment, so it hasn't been produced by the public service.
01:17It is just madness, and Stephen Miles has to explain today where did this madness come from.
01:23Questions have been raised about whether state-owned servos would increase market competition.
01:29There's plenty of competition out there,
01:31so the government's not going to do anything with four or half a dozen servos.
01:36So when you combine the very complex market structures
01:40and the dynamics and the complex dynamics that flow from global commodity prices,
01:45you really have to question whether a government has the capacity or the capability to run an operation like that.
01:50If re-elected, Labor says it will set up the fuel stations within a year,
01:55but regulating prices will take longer for laws to get through Parliament.
02:00The opposition wants more detail on the policy.