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Speaker 1: We know that these petrol prices, well, there's something that

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Speaker 1: all of us are keeping a very close eye on

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Speaker 1: and we have been doing so for weeks. We know

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Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government said that they were going to

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Speaker 1: be writing to the fuel retailers and asking, you know,

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Speaker 1: why the prices were so high in the Northern Territory

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Speaker 1: at the moment. We also know that there had been

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Speaker 1: a number of letters written to the A Triple C.

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Speaker 1: But joining us on the line right now from the

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Speaker 1: Motor Trade Association Policy and Communications manager Case Sillisen, Good

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Speaker 1: morning to you, Case, Good morning Coty, Thanks so much

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Speaker 1: for your time this morning. How are fuel prices tracking

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Speaker 1: from your perspective in the territory.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, look, we've seen over the last couple of months

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Speaker 2: that they have come down a bit. Certainly they were

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Speaker 2: a little bit higher, but with some of the interest

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Speaker 2: rate rises which are not just happening in Australia but globally,

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Speaker 2: some of that demand is easing off a little bit.

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Speaker 2: So they are a little bit off of the peak

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Speaker 2: where they were a couple of months ago and now

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Speaker 2: they're sort of holding it at the rough average in

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Speaker 2: Darwin of about one hundred and eighty nine one hundred

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Speaker 2: and ninety cents at the moment.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, and we've seen for a while there case. You know,

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Speaker 1: the terminal gate price seemed to be going right down,

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Speaker 1: but you know, at the Bowser it wasn't sort of

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Speaker 1: following sush, whereas at the moment the terminal gate from

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Speaker 1: what I've seen, it's kind of up and down a

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Speaker 1: little bit over the last couple of weeks.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And there are a number of things

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Speaker 2: which can influence the cost of fuel at the Bowser. Obviously,

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Speaker 2: transport costs are a big one for the Northern territory,

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Speaker 2: you know, the isolation geographically and the transport costs can

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Speaker 2: be a factor with that. There are a number of

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Speaker 2: things also with volumes of fuel being sold as well.

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Speaker 2: So that's all plagued into what can ultimately translate to

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Speaker 2: the cost of the bowser for consumers.

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Speaker 1: Now I know that. You know, like I said, we've

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Speaker 1: seen a bit of a drop from your perspective, do

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Speaker 1: you reckon, like, have we seen much of a drop

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Speaker 1: over the last few months.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I think talking about the peak of around

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Speaker 2: sort of June July, we're talking about average costs in

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Speaker 2: Darwen probably about to ten cents, whereas as I said,

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Speaker 2: right now, we've sort of got about a ten percent

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Speaker 2: drop down to about that one to ninety mark at

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Speaker 2: the moment, which is an average. And certainly if I

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Speaker 2: look at Darwin today, I can see that prices, you know,

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Speaker 2: ranging from about one hundred and seventy seven and a

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Speaker 2: half cents for the lowest right at the moment, right

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Speaker 2: through to about one hundred and eighty four and one

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Speaker 2: hundred and eighty five, So you're talking about seven and

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Speaker 2: a half sense of difference at the moment. So it

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Speaker 2: really demonstrates that if you do shop around, if you

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Speaker 2: do choose where you're purchasing your fuel from, and supporting

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Speaker 2: a local independent will go a long way to saving

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Speaker 2: your money.

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Speaker 1: And that's really what the Motor Tried Association is urging

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Speaker 1: Territorians to do right now, isn't it.

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Speaker 2: It is one hundred percent what we're saying, because ultimately

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Speaker 2: independence and the Atrepacy have noted this are a big

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Speaker 2: part in fact during the price of fuel and keeping

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Speaker 2: competition strong. You know that can average on average be

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Speaker 2: about five cents cheaper than the major retailers. And as

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Speaker 2: I said, at the moment, you know, if you're chopping

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Speaker 2: in Darwin, it's a seven and a half per cent difference,

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Speaker 2: So it does improve competition. And we've got roughly about

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Speaker 2: a third of the marketplace in Darwen which we'd say

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Speaker 2: not major or you know, leaning towards independent retailers. So

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Speaker 2: there are options out there to choose an independent in.

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Speaker 1: Darwen in case, I mean, how many independents do we

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Speaker 1: have in Darwen and sort of in the top end.

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Speaker 1: There's a few that I know of, but are there

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Speaker 1: maybe more that sort of fall under the banner of

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Speaker 1: the larger retailer but they're actually owned by locals.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. Look, I think in terms of data sets that

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Speaker 2: I've got, and we're talking about to Nature or see

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Speaker 2: report from twenty nineteen, so perhaps not the latest latest,

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Speaker 2: but we're talking about small independence. Of the fifty seven

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Speaker 2: in Darwin, nine of them were small independents and there

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Speaker 2: are a couple of others. There's probably twenty one in

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Speaker 2: total which you would consider non major. You know, few

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Speaker 2: retailing brands which can give you, as I said, that

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Speaker 2: flexibility and that choice to be able to choose an

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Speaker 2: independent which can promote competition in the market and give

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Speaker 2: you a better price.

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Speaker 1: I wasn't aware of that. I mean around twenty one

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Speaker 1: in total that you know that are considered more so independent.

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Speaker 1: It is a larger number, I think than a lot

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Speaker 1: of people would have realized.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think ultimately there are different ways that

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Speaker 2: you can slice and dize that. But you know, without

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Speaker 2: naming brands or companies, ultimately, I think your listeners will

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Speaker 2: understand that there are options there which are not necessarily

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Speaker 2: those major brands and certainly the small independence there. You know,

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Speaker 2: you're talking about ten out of the sixty that are

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Speaker 2: definitely there in Darwin that you can choose from, and

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Speaker 2: then there are others which are maybe franchise operators which

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Speaker 2: are not going through. As I said, some of those

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Speaker 2: major fuel retailing brands that you know your listeners will

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Speaker 2: be aware of.

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Speaker 1: Now, I guess we're all sort of wondering as well, Now,

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Speaker 1: what is going to happen when that fuel excise ends? Case?

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Speaker 1: Can I just confirm it ends on September twenty eighth,

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Speaker 1: doesn't it? The federal government's confirmed that they're not going

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Speaker 1: to be extending that in any way at this point

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Speaker 1: in time.

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Speaker 2: Yes, all signs are at this stage that that's going

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Speaker 2: to be the date and there's going to be no

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Speaker 2: further extension. So from that sense, it's going to be

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Speaker 2: you know, the roughly twenty cent increase. You know that

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Speaker 2: may translate at the bows. I think what we've seen

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Speaker 2: with when that measure came in, the prices did respond

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Speaker 2: in terms of with retailers, and the A Trible C

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Speaker 2: did note that the retailers were not using it as

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Speaker 2: an excuse to not pass it on. Likewise, when the

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Speaker 2: excise comes off, the A Trible C will be watching

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Speaker 2: it again and they'll be making sure that retailers are

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Speaker 2: not using that as an excuse to unreasonably increase costs.

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Speaker 1: I guess for us here in the territory, we have

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Speaker 1: felt like we sort of felt like there was a

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Speaker 1: big you know, like there was a big lag in

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Speaker 1: terms of it being passed on. Now, whether that's correct

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Speaker 1: or not with every outlet, you know, I guess is arguable.

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Speaker 1: But for a lot of territorians they have felt like,

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Speaker 1: you know, some of the outlets maybe haven't been anywhere

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Speaker 1: near as fear as what they could be. Do you

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Speaker 1: think that we're going to sort of see this increase

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Speaker 1: immediately or are we going to see that argument of all,

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Speaker 1: you know, we've got x amount of fuel in storage,

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Speaker 1: so it will take a couple of weeks before the

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Speaker 1: price goes you know, it goes up again.

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Speaker 2: It's a mix of both, to be honest. Obviously, it's

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Speaker 2: a competitive marketplace and operators do have to respond to

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Speaker 2: one another's and compete with one another. On the other hand,

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Speaker 2: you know, where there's fuel storage at site, you may

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Speaker 2: have fuel that they've purchased at a wholesale at different prices.

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Speaker 2: So they may have a third of the tank that's

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Speaker 2: worth a certain amount, a third of the tank that's

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Speaker 2: worth slightly less, and a third of the tank that

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Speaker 2: might be worth less from that, and they average their

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Speaker 2: costs in terms of being able to maintain sustainable business

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Speaker 2: practices around that. So yeah, look, it doesn't always translate

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Speaker 2: to an immediate reduction, but that reduction will be there

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Speaker 2: and the HBC will be monitoring, monitoring it to make

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Speaker 2: sure that does occur.

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Speaker 1: Well, Case, I really appreciate your time this morning. Thank

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Speaker 1: you very much for having a chat with us and

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Speaker 1: talking petrol prices, something that our listeners are very very

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Speaker 1: interested in.

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Speaker 2: My pleasure, Thank you, thank you,