The war in the Middle East and restriction on the Strait of Hormuz continues to have flow-on effects in Australia, where fuel prices have soared and the threat of a national shortage has been brought to the fore.
While the Australian Government has attempted to reduce prices through cutting fuel-specific taxes as well as aiming to shore up supply in a deal with Singapore, its latest tactic has seen the onus put on motorists to reduce usage.
Dubbed “Every little bit helps”, the educational advertising campaign – reportedly costing $20 million – is being rolled out to encourage motorists “to adopt simple, practical behaviours to use less fuel – helping our supply to go further and saving fuel for our truckies, farmers and essential services”.
The campaign is the public-facing aspect of the government’s ‘National Fuel Security Plan’, currently at Level 2 in which motorists are encouraged to “only buy the fuel you need – make voluntary choices to use less and avoid the impact of higher fuel prices”.
On a separate page for fuel saving tips, the government lists ‘Simple actions you can take’, such as:
- Plan well
- Look after your car’s tyres
- Travel light
- Minimise aerodynamic drag
- Use aircon and heating on low settings
- Only fill up with the fuel you need
- Don’t overfill the fuel tank
In addition to this, it listed a number of suggested changes to driver behaviour, including:
- Drive in high gear
- Monitor speed and acceleration
- Minimise idling
- Monitor your fuel use
As reported late last month, from Thursday April 1 until Tuesday June 30, Australia’s fuel excise has been halved from 52.6 cents per litre to 26.3 cents per litre, while the states and territories have agreed to use extra revenue gained by the GST to cut prices by a further 5.7 cents per litre.
Australian Treasurer Jim Chalmers has estimated the cost of cutting the fuel excise – even temporarily – is approximately $2.55 billion.
As a result, the Australian Institute of Petroleum reports the national average price for unleaded petrol is 224.5 cents per litre, down on the high of 253.4cpl on March 29, however well above the six-month low of 166.1cpl in early February, prior to the conflict in Iran.
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