Opposition Leader Angus Taylor has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, calling on him to slash the fuel excise by half as the nationwide shortage escalates.
More than 600 service stations across Australia have run out of fuel as the US-Israeli war in Iran continues to drive up prices.
The current fuel excise in Australia is 52.6 cents a litre.
The former Scott Morrison government previously halved the excise for six months in 2022 following Russia’s invasion on Ukraine.
Taylor wants the fuel excise slashed to 26 cents a litre to help Aussies save an estimated $50 a week at the bowser.
He visited a Canberra service station on Friday, where the price of diesel has soared to almost $3.16 a litre.
Filling up his car set him back $130.
‘We have proposed a fully funded package that will not put pressure on inflation and we have also proposed a halving of the road user charge which will flow through to transport costs and take pressure off the cost of transport for food and all those other goods that Australians have it pay for every single day,’ Taylor told reporters.
‘We need affordable fuel in this country, we need secure fuel in this country and we need it as fast as possible.
‘We need a government that takes action that shows leadership. What we’re proposing here today is a pathway forward, an action plan that the government can get on with straightaway and we are calling on them to do it absolutely immediately.’
He proposed replacing the budget hole by scrapping EV tax breaks, cutting green hydrogen projects, and freezing the home battery scheme.
Taylor also called on the government to move the fuel on top of slashing the excise.
‘Get on with it, we need leadership in this country immediately,’ he said.
Nationals leader Matt Canavan said: ‘Because of Labor’s inability to manage the Federal Budget, we are seeing so much pressure on the budgets of all families around Australia and it is not right for the government to continue to take in the same amount of tax in that environment.
