Fuel Tax Relief Extended For Another Month

The Federal Government has partially extended fuel excise and Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge relief for another month but reduced both to 16 cents per litre.

The government had previously announced a three-month cut to the fuel excise of 32 cents per litre back in March alongside reducing the Heavy Vehicle Road User Charge to zero and deferring the next scheduled increase by six months. That ended June 30.

This cut will commence from July 1 and run to August 2 and is estimated to cost around $400 million.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says the temporary support will help take the sting out of petrol prices for ordinary Australians as well as help truckies keep Australia moving.

At Monday’s National Cabinet meeting the States and Territories agreed to continue using their GST revenue to fund a 5.7 cent portion of the fuel excise cut.

While welcoming the US-Iran agreement to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, Albanese says the extension to the fuel tax relief recognises “economic and fuel stability recovery will take time, and our action provides a graduated return to normal settings for the fuel excise”.

“We’ll continue to do what we can to shield Australians from the worst impacts of this conflict including securing additional fuel from our partners,” he adds.

“Despite the welcome and substantial drop in the price of petrol recently, we recognise people are still under pressure.

“This extra month of fuel discount will help Australian motorists and businesses with the cost of living as this support tapers off.

“By tapering off the fuel tax cut, this will also help to manage demand at service stations towards the end of the month.”

Since the end of March, petrol prices in most capital cities are around 90 cents per litre lower and diesel prices in most capital cities are around $1 per litre lower.

Since the conflict started at the end of February, petrol prices are lower in almost all capital cities and diesel prices are on average around 20 cents per litre higher.