Petrol price rip off.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Association ( ACCA ) and the National Roads and Motorists Association ( NRMA ) have accused the oil companies of ripping off motorists at the petrol bowser. Both complain that while crude oil prices have fallen twenty-five percent since August, this has not resulted in a coresponding decrease in petrol offered to motorists.
It is suggested that the public is being ripped off to the tune of ten cents a litre.
Howls of protest from the oil majors who put the blame squarely on the petrol outlets. They point out that sixty percent of petrol sales in this country are controlled by the two groceery giants - Coles and Woolworths - who offer a four cent discount to shoppers in their stores who buy thirty dollars worth of goods - and present a sales docket at their service stations when filling their tank.
It is hard to sheet home the blame for high prices because there is a tangled mix of the price of crude, the cost of transport, the cost of refining and then the discounting cycle employed by the oil majors to even out supply and distribution problems.
One thing is certain. The two major oil companies operating in Australia - Shell and Caltex - have enjoying a profit bonanza - and the price of petrol at the bowser has not kept pace with the decrease in crude.
The ACCA does not have teeth to drag the offenders to court, but it does have the power to publish figures and shame them - and that is what it proposes to do. If the oil companies respond with a one finger salute then ACCA will petition the government to change the law and give it the teeth to force the oil majors to bring prices into line. This would be a dangerous ploy because of the power these two giants. They control the refineries and transport and they can easily generate shortages to punish the nation for crippling their profits.
In the end, this matter of petrol price will be a matter of politics. In an election year the last thing the Federal government would want would be a war with the oil majors and petrol shortages. On the other hand, a drop in petrol prices would be seen as a win all around. The probable outcome will be an easing of prices accompanies by a retreat by the ACCA. In that manner, both sides can claim victory !