The Victorian government says there is nothing it can do to fix the fact that regional drivers pay more for petrol than those in Melbourne.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The problem now lies with local councils and other groups to encourage more service stations to set up in rural areas.
The committee which conducted the inquiry handed down its report to Parliament this week.
One of the three recommendations was for the government and councils to review their planning policies to make it easier for new service stations to open.
NRMA senior economic adviser Wal Setkiewicz told the inquiry councils should give service stations “first crack” at vacant land, because more competition could bring down petrol prices.
“That could be a planning tool to get the cheaper independents to be involved more in the market,” he said.
The inquiry report also recommended better promotion of mobile phone apps, which help drivers find the best petrol price.
The committee found the gap in prices between the North East and Melbourne had narrowed in recent years.
Back in 2014-15, Wodonga’s petrol price was an average of 4 per cent higher than Melbourne’s, but had come to just 0.4 per cent higher in 2016/17.
The RACV told the committee that towns on the Hume Freeway such as Seymour, Wallan and Wangaratta had some form of price cycling, but the difference between the high and low price cycles were not as wide as in Melbourne.
Committee chair Nazih Elasmar said the inconsistencies were caused by local market factors and lags in price changes due to lower stock turnovers.
“Regional Victorians feel the impact of high fuel prices even more because they travel long distances to access services and they have fewer options of where to purchase fuel,” he said.
“The individual characteristics of each regional fuel market make it difficult for the Victorian government to implement measures that could reduce fuel prices across all regions.”