Opposition treasury spokesman Scott Bacon wants Tasmanian motorists to have confidence that they are not being “ripped off every time they fill up their tank”.
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“Recently we’ve seen price rises of up to 20 cents per litre,” Mr Bacon said.
“We know this is very difficult for Tasmanian families to handle.
“[They] get a raw deal.”
He said Labor had a “common sense policy” that suggested the appointment of a fuel price oversight officer, which would promote transparency among fuel retailers in terms of their pricing.
Mr Bacon called for the government to take “action” on the matter.
“The RACT wants the government to legislate so all petrol retailers publish their prices online in real time,” he said.
But Tasmanian Automobile Chamber of Commerce general manager Malcolm Little said more transparency around petrol prices would not be necessary.
“The RACT monitors rates and publishes them,” he said.
Mr Little also pointed to Motormouth, a smartphone app that allows users to observe up-to-date nationwide petrol prices.
In the Australian Institute of Petroleum’s first weekly report on petrol prices for 2017, it was revealed that the average price of fuel in the state was 130.5 cents per litre for the week ending January 8 – a 1.2 per cent increase on the previous week’s prices.
RACT, meanwhile, have said consumers would be wise to shop around for their petrol.
Mr Bacon agreed, urging motorists to “look around” and thereby put “price pressure on the oil companies”.