Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The AANT's Anthony Hill says the organisation has a plan to unlock hundreds of millions in commonwealth spending and improve driver safety and travel times.

Transcript

The AANT's Anthony Hill says the organisation has a plan to unlock hundreds of millions in commonwealth spending and improve driver safety and travel times. · 360 with Katie Woolf

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  Speaker 1: But as I said, these diesel and unleaded prices they
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: continue to remain high. And how long they'll stay that way,
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  Speaker 1: I guess, is anybody's guess at this point. But it's
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  Speaker 1: something that is well and truly on the national agenda
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  Speaker 1: right now. I know there've been calls from some to
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  Speaker 1: cut the fuel excise. It is something that we've spoken
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  Speaker 1: about over the last couple of weeks. But joining me
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  Speaker 1: on the line right now is the CEO of the
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  Speaker 1: aa NT. Good morning to you.
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  Speaker 2: Anthony Hill. Good morning Katie. Lovely to have you on
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  Speaker 2: the show.
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  Speaker 1: Anthony. These firstly, these petrol prices remain high right now,
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  Speaker 1: don't they They do?
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  Speaker 2: They do. Indeed, I think we've seen a pretty consistent
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  Speaker 2: price now over the over the last week around about
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  Speaker 2: two nine. We have seen the all price drop a
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  Speaker 2: little bit in that period, but not significantly so. But yeah,
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  Speaker 2: it has remained around about the nine for the last
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  Speaker 2: five or six days.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, And Anthony, one of the things that keeps getting
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  Speaker 1: raised with us on air is why you know, like,
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  Speaker 1: even as the terminal gate price is going down, we're
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  Speaker 1: really not seeing that reflected to the same degree at
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  Speaker 1: the bowsing.
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  Speaker 2: Yes, No, Look, sometimes it is timing, so we do
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  Speaker 2: need to allow for obviously when people have purchased businesses
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  Speaker 2: have purchased fuel for that to flow through. But as
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  Speaker 2: of this morning, we are seeing margins creep so you know,
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  Speaker 2: we are calling on industry now to do the right
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  Speaker 2: thing by consumers at a time where petal pricing is
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  Speaker 2: so high. So it has creep up this in the
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  Speaker 2: last couple of days.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, right, so you reckon with some of those servos
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  Speaker 1: at the moment, those margins are creeping up.
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  Speaker 2: That's right, That's right. That's what we're that's what we're noticing,
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  Speaker 2: and we monitor it on a value basis. So we
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  Speaker 2: said we'll certainly be going to be advocating for the
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  Speaker 2: industry to do the right thing and be looking after
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  Speaker 2: a motor as much as they can at this time.
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  Speaker 1: Anthony, what is your message for those that you know
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  Speaker 1: that aren't at the moment, you know, doing the right
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  Speaker 1: thing in terms of bringing those prices down.
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  Speaker 2: Well, what I would do is I would encourage I
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  Speaker 2: would encourage all the consumer syster to watch the fuel
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  Speaker 2: pricing very carefully and support those that are going to
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  Speaker 2: support you as far as pricing goes. So if it's
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  Speaker 2: if it's local support, support those that are discounting the
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  Speaker 2: price and doing the right thing.
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  Speaker 1: Now, I know that the last time you and I
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  Speaker 1: caught up, we spoke about the fuel excise and whether
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  Speaker 1: that should be cut, and also spoke about the impact
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  Speaker 1: that that would have though when it comes to that
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  Speaker 1: reinvestment into roads infrastructure. But I know that the national
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  Speaker 1: motoring body, the Australian Automobile Association, along with the aa
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  Speaker 1: n T, have released a bit of a plan that
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  Speaker 1: aims to unlock hundreds of millions in commonwealth spending and
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  Speaker 1: improve driver safety and travel times. Tell us a bit
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  Speaker 1: more about.
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  Speaker 2: This, Yes, that's right, Katie. So today we launch a
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  Speaker 2: campaign the green Light Australias Recovery, and it's really cool
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  Speaker 2: for motoring taxes to be reinvested transport projects to stimulate
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  Speaker 2: our economy, create jobs, save lives and again make Australias
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  Speaker 2: transport network a priority. What we do know is over
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  Speaker 2: the last decade, out of all the exercise that has
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  Speaker 2: been collected by the federal government, which is one hundred
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  Speaker 2: and twenty seven billion dollars, only fifty three point seven
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  Speaker 2: percent of that has actually been spent on road infrastructure projects.
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  Speaker 2: So we're going for one percent of that to be
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  Speaker 2: spent on on basic territory roads and national roads. And
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  Speaker 2: as you know, we've we've still got a long way
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  Speaker 2: to go into territory in regards to getting our road
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  Speaker 2: network up to up to I think an acceptable level.
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  Speaker 2: Seventy percent of our roads are currently unsealed. We've got
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  Speaker 2: we've got a lot of tourism destinations that are unaccessible
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  Speaker 2: for four or five months of the year still, so
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  Speaker 2: you know, to extend the tourism market we need we
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  Speaker 2: need these roads seen to as soon as possible. If
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  Speaker 2: we cut the excise, all that's kind has reduced a
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  Speaker 2: number of these projects that can actually get done.
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  Speaker 1: So do we know what you know, Like, if all
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  Speaker 1: of that money is not being reinvested back into road infrastructure,
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  Speaker 1: what's it being spent on or is it just sitting
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  Speaker 1: in the coffers?
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  Speaker 2: Yes, I think it's in the various various things, Katie,
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  Speaker 2: and it's but certainly specific to road infrastructure and projects.
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  Speaker 2: It's only fifty three points percent, So the rest of
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  Speaker 2: them being in the federal government coppers.
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  Speaker 1: Wow, So really, what you guys want to see is
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  Speaker 1: that money reinvested into roads infrastructure I mean, we know
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  Speaker 1: in the Northern Territory that there's a lot of different
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  Speaker 1: areas where it could be invested, a lot of a
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  Speaker 1: lot of different roads.
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  Speaker 2: Absolutely, Katie. And this week we'll be releasing a Risky
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  Speaker 2: Road Report. So we went out to the market late
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  Speaker 2: last year with a survey. This week that's finalized and
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  Speaker 2: we'll be putting that out to industry stakeholders and governments
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  Speaker 2: in the Northern Territory, which is really that's allowed us
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  Speaker 2: to go out to the motors right throughout the Northern Territory.
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  Speaker 2: We had great back and from that we're going to
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  Speaker 2: be able to prioritize some of the key roads intersections,
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  Speaker 2: both in urban and regional areas throughout the Northern Territory
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  Speaker 2: that we want to see prioritized.
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  Speaker 1: Well, we'll keep an eye out for that. Before I
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  Speaker 1: let you go, Anthony, have we got any idea when
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  Speaker 1: we're going to see some movement downwards with these petrol
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  Speaker 1: prices and with what we're seeing at the moment, I
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  Speaker 1: mean two nine. I think it's said in a lot
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  Speaker 1: of different places around the top end around the Northern Territory,
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  Speaker 1: it doesn't seem like there's an end in sight, just
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  Speaker 1: yet not just.
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  Speaker 2: Yet, Katie. I think with a term or that's going
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  Speaker 2: on around the world at the moment, it's I think
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  Speaker 2: we're still in for a little bit of a period
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  Speaker 2: of high high prices, but we are watching that all
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  Speaker 2: pricing very closely. So we did see a little bit
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  Speaker 2: of a dip last week, it bounced back up again,
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  Speaker 2: and I think this morning's also bounced back up a
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  Speaker 2: little bit. So I think we are still still going
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  Speaker 2: to have a period of high high pricing. Unfortunately.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and that's I suppose the crappy thing that a
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  Speaker 1: lot of people are noticing. You know, even today the
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  Speaker 1: terminal gate price a dollar ninety, so it's gone down.
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  Speaker 1: Last Tuesday it was at two dollars too, But within
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  Speaker 1: that time there hasn't really been really been any movement
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  Speaker 1: at the bowser.
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  Speaker 2: No. Well, as I said, it's not me. We allow
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  Speaker 2: about seventy ten days for the fuel to be dispersed
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  Speaker 2: from purchase that might have been made back then, so
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  Speaker 2: we would expect to see probably a bit of a
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  Speaker 2: downward movement a little bit coming in the coming coming days.
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  Speaker 2: But they said, I wouldn't expect a huge movement. I
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  Speaker 2: think we're going to be over the two dollar marks
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  Speaker 2: quite some time.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, Anthony, no doubt. We'll talk to you again
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  Speaker 1: very soon. Let us know when you do release those
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  Speaker 1: roads throughout the week. We'd be interested to see them.
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  Speaker 2: We certainly will. Thank thank you.