‘Cut your prices or I will cut them for you’: Gunner prepared to cap NT petrol prices if fuel companies fail to act

FUEL prices in the NT will be capped even if it means fighting the fuel giants in court, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said yesterday.

FuelXpress Winnellie owner Pat O'Connell was represented at the PAC meeting yesterday. Picture: Elise Derwin

• Fuel companies in for a grilling over the Territory’s high petrol prices
• Darwin drivers being gouged on fuel with mark-up of almost 40 cents a litre
• No fuel price relief in sight for Territory motorists

FUEL prices in the NT will be capped even if it means fighting the fuel giants in court, Chief Minister Michael Gunner said yesterday.

But the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) told a Public Accounts Committee (PAC) hearing there was nothing illegal about high prices.

During the hearing with executives from Territory-based fuel companies, ACCC Infrastructure and Transport general manager Matthew Schroder said the ACCC could call out fuel companies where they thought margins were excessive.

“In a capitalist economy, retailers set high prices, there isn’t a law that prevents them from doing that,” he said.

“High prices aren’t against the law and we can’t do anything about that but if there was evidence of collusion … we would be very interested in that and would be looking into an investigation.”

But Mr Gunner said he wasn’t afraid of implementing fuel price caps or facing fuel giants in court if they chose that path.

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“All we seem to get is complicated and convoluted answers about why we have to pay more and wait more for fuel prices to drop,” he said.

“I will take stringent measures if necessary, I will make new laws if I have to. Cut your prices or I will cut them for you.”

At the PAC hearing, Fuel-Xpress representative Mark McKenzie said several factors contributed to fuel prices and companies couldn’t afford to pass every cent on to the customer.

“What we’re seeing is a smaller population, households consuming less fuel because they’re taking advantage of vehicles which consume less fuel, and more competitors, and it’s that confluence … that we would suggest is a key component for why the market is so competitive,” he said.

Mr McKenzie said an unintended consequence of dropping fuel prices could be the closure of petrol stations, which could cripple the fuel industry.

“We would get more backlash from that than we would about petrol prices not coming through,” he said.

“There’s a dual responsibility for making sure fuel is available and make sure fuel’s available at a reasonable price.

“It’s a free market in which we operate in but the consequences of a business closing effectively means fuel’s not available in an area. In the NT where density of service stations is low it means a community will lose fuel.”

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More evidence is still to be presented to the PAC, with the Government’s next move to be made in the coming week.