They say you never really know someone until you either give them power or put them in a position of desperation.
It seems for Queensland Labor Premier Steven Miles – who may no longer be Premier in a few weeks if voter sentiment holds true – he is now enduring both.
In doing so, has he put forward what is possibly the most ill-thought out and illogical idea Queenslanders have ever heard?
Mr Miles has looked at other amazingly well ran government institutions… and decided that if Labor wins the election in October, it will (using $36 million of tax payer funds), open 12 state-owned petrol stations that are meant to bring about competition and reduce the price of fuel.
Remember that this is the same government that spent $230 million dollars of our money to open a COVID facility in Toowoomba, which only ever housed 730 people and has since been mothballed. The government’s own audit found the facility and the cost of setting it up was completely unaccounted for.
Do we trust them to set up petrol stations?
Here are the official list of suggestions put forward without any modelling or consultation with any industry body outside of those friendly to the idea (such as the RACQ):
- 12 initial state-owned sites, which will be determined by QLD Labor government, based on where competition is most needed across the state
- Banning fuel stations from raising the price of fuel more than once a day
- Requiring petrol stations to release price changes a day in advance
- Working with RACQ to trial a daily limit on increases in petrol prices, to no more than 5 cents a litre
- Using planning call-in powers and access to publicly owned Transport and Main Roads land to provide a more level playing field for independents and small retailers that are charging Queenslanders less for petrol
If we lived in the Soviet Union in the 1970s, this may sound like a normal proposition and idea but the reality is we live in Australia.
Our government’s role is to encourage an open market, to incentivise businesses to set up and compete with each other economically and allow the customer to decide the success of those institutions by choice.
Some of the ideas in that proposal have some merit, such as allowing independent petrol stations access to publicly owned land. But the rest don’t.
Forcing petrol companies to limit price changes per day and report their prices in advance (they already do this to a lesser extent), will force them to keep the price high rather than reduce the price and raise it if need be.
There’s no doubt that petrol companies have a solid business in Australia and healthy competition should be promoted, but examples of an Australian state or federal government being able to successfully enter a privately dominated segment and create that competition are non-existent.
Also, the price we pay for fuel is amongst some of the highest in the world. Did you know that 49.6 cents in the cost of every litre of fuel is tax? We then pay GST on top of that. We also pay some of the highest rates of income tax, capital gains tax and stamp duty amongst other things.
All of that tax goes to an often wasteful state and federal government that spend it without regard.
So when Mr Miles says “the household budget of Queensland families is the most important economic yardstick for me”, I call BS. The most important thing is re-election at all costs.
