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Speaker 1: Well, as we know, the fuel excise is set to

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Speaker 1: end at midnight tonight. Now, the measure was temporarily introduced

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Speaker 1: under the last federal government in an effort to provide

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Speaker 1: that relief amid rising costs of living. The Labor government

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Speaker 1: isn't going to be extending the reduction to the fuel tax,

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Speaker 1: citing its budget pressures and road maintenance as the reasons why.

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Speaker 1: Now joining me on the line to tell us a

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Speaker 1: little bit more about what we can expect. I guess

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Speaker 1: here in the Northern Territory is the NT Consumer Affairs

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Speaker 1: Commissioner Sandi Otto. Good morning to you.

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Speaker 2: Good morning, Katie, Thanks so.

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Speaker 1: Much for your time this morning. Now, Sandy, how much

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Speaker 1: extra do you think that we're going to see this

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Speaker 1: fuel excise sort of go up? I suppose as a

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Speaker 1: result of an ending tonight.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, the price is going to go up roughly around

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Speaker 2: twenty five cents a leter. That takes in consideration that

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Speaker 2: twenty three percent of sense per leter increase, and there

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Speaker 2: was also an automatic increase go through that and the GST,

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Speaker 2: So roughly you're at twenty five cents a later, and

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Speaker 2: I'm not expecting that to happen immediately. And I'm hoping

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Speaker 2: it doesn't, but it should go through once the fuel

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Speaker 2: stocks go down and the retailers get their tanks filled

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Speaker 2: back up.

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Speaker 1: And Sandy, why do you think it's not going to

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Speaker 1: sort of happen immediately.

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Speaker 2: Well, people, I'm hoping the few retailers have got reasonably

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Speaker 2: full tanks of fuel in the ground and they need

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Speaker 2: to work through those stocks first before they put the

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Speaker 2: prices up. So once they fill their tanks back up,

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Speaker 2: that's when the prices should be going up. So it

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Speaker 2: sort of depends on the volume as well. There's some

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Speaker 2: fuel stations that might be busier than others, so their

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Speaker 2: price might rise before before you know, a competition down

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Speaker 2: the road. So what I'd suggest that people do is

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Speaker 2: have a look at the my fuel and t app

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Speaker 2: find where the cheapest fuel is and go there and

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Speaker 2: fill up and just keep an eye on it because

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Speaker 2: it's going to fluctuate I think in the next few days.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, And Sandy, look, I get messages I reckon just

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Speaker 1: about every day from people saying, come on, Katie, we

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Speaker 1: didn't even really see the prices go down as a

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Speaker 1: result of that fuel excise. I've no doubt that the

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Speaker 1: prices have been something that you've been keeping an eye on.

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Speaker 2: I have certainly have, and I think one of the

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Speaker 2: you know, there's been a lot of contributing factors around

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Speaker 2: the when the price excise went down, so that didn't

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Speaker 2: help the conflict in the Ukraine, for example, that's had

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Speaker 2: a significant impact. We've got to look at the exchange rate,

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Speaker 2: you know, the Australian dollar, All that sort of thing

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Speaker 2: does come into play, and production costs, import costs, there's

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Speaker 2: a whole range of things that dictate the price of fuel,

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Speaker 2: and again consumers just need to keep an eye on

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Speaker 2: what's happening. Have a look at the terminal gate price.

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Speaker 2: If you see that start to go up, you know

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Speaker 2: that the fuel prices will go up. So consumers need

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Speaker 2: to be very very active in keeping an eye on

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Speaker 2: this sort of thing and just making sure they keep

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Speaker 2: that the fuel tanks topped up before it does jump

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Speaker 2: up that twenty five cents.

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Speaker 1: Well, we try our best to keep people up to

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Speaker 1: date as well with how the terminal gate price is

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Speaker 1: tracking and then how it's looking on the my fuel

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Speaker 1: lap Sandy will Y consumer iffees, I'm assuming you'll continue

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Speaker 1: to keep a close eye on things, but you know

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Speaker 1: what can sort of be done if we suspect that

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Speaker 1: the price is you know that we are being gouged,

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Speaker 1: I guess for one of a better word.

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Speaker 2: It's really important that if a consumer thinks they are

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Speaker 2: being price gouged, or they think they're being misled, or

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Speaker 2: they think there's clues or there's something happening with the

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Speaker 2: prices that's not right, but they need to contact the HCEE.

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Speaker 2: I've put up in our news and events section at

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Speaker 2: the bottom of our web page, there's a new one

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Speaker 2: that's gone up and in that little comment there there

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Speaker 2: is a link to the age we'll see where they

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Speaker 2: need to report that. That's the people they need to

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Speaker 2: be reporting it to, and they they are keeping a

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Speaker 2: very close eye on the daal and market, so if

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Speaker 2: there's anything unusual that's going on, they certainly will be advised.

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Speaker 1: Sandy, what do you think when you sort of go

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Speaker 1: on the my fuel lap and basically everyone's at the

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Speaker 1: same price.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I had a look this morning and just around

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Speaker 2: a casher in an area here with the variance between

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Speaker 2: dollars sixty three and a dollar seventy roughly, So it's

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Speaker 2: and you've got loyalty cards are around that offer fourth

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Speaker 2: cent salt or six cent sorce. Have a look at

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Speaker 2: the app, have a look at where you live, and

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Speaker 2: plan your trip. So if you, for example, fuel Express

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Speaker 2: is always the cheapest, So if you go need to

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Speaker 2: go to an elec during the week, keep an eye

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Speaker 2: on the app, have a look at your loyalty cards

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Speaker 2: if you've got any, and just make sure that you

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Speaker 2: plan your trips to get the cheapest fuel when you can. Yeah,

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Speaker 2: I mean that will drive competition. If everyone you know

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Speaker 2: continues to buy from the cheapest place, that should start

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Speaker 2: seeing other fuel companies fall into line.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I guess we always hope that I know that

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Speaker 1: I get on here most days and certainly have a look.

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Speaker 1: And fuel Express always seems to be the cheapest around

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Speaker 1: the Darwin area. It's they're pretty well on par out

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Speaker 1: In Parmston, everyone seems to be the same price. But

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Speaker 1: then you know, even looking there today, they're at a

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Speaker 1: dollar sixty three point five. Literally everybody else is on

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Speaker 1: a dollar sixty nine, whether it's a dollar sixty nine

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Speaker 1: point five, a dollar sixty nine point seven, or a

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Speaker 1: dollar sixty nine point nine. There is one that's a

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Speaker 1: bit further there at a dollar seventy point nine, but

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Speaker 1: it seems like they almost use the app to bloody

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Speaker 1: keep an eye on each other.

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Speaker 2: I couldn't comment about that, but you know, the retailers

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Speaker 2: can look at it, and consumers can also look at it,

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Speaker 2: and there's a number of reasons why if your prices

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Speaker 2: are what they are, and you know they put the

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Speaker 2: prices there accordingly. And all I can say is keep

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Speaker 2: an eye on the app and just make sure that

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Speaker 2: you buy it from the cheapest place.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, hey, Sandy. On a separate topic, we've been contacted

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Speaker 1: by a number of locals who've been caught up in

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Speaker 1: the Optus data breach. I know that more than ten

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Speaker 1: million customers as I understand it, around Australia have had

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Speaker 1: their personal details stolen and released by hackers who then

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Speaker 1: basically held the company to ransom. What is your advice

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Speaker 1: for local calls if they're concerned about how their personal

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Speaker 1: information might be used.

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Speaker 2: If they think that the ID is stolen or there

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Speaker 2: is some concerns there. There's an organization called ID Care.

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Speaker 2: They should be contacting them, but they are the actual

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Speaker 2: national experts on dealing this type of breach. I'll give

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Speaker 2: you their number, Their number one, eight hundred and five

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Speaker 2: nine five one six O