Latest / 360 with Katie Woolf / The Motor Trade Association's Kaes Sillessen is encouraging Territorians to shop around for the cheapest fuel and support independent retailers

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The Motor Trade Association's Kaes Sillessen is encouraging Territorians to shop around for the cheapest fuel and support independent retailers · 360 with Katie Woolf

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: We know that these petrol prices, well, there's something that
• 0:02
  Speaker 1: all of us are keeping a very close eye on
• 0:04
  Speaker 1: and we have been doing so for weeks. We know
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: the Northern Territory government said that they were going to
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: be writing to the fuel retailers and asking, you know,
• 0:15
  Speaker 1: why the prices were so high in the Northern Territory
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: at the moment. We also know that there had been
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: a number of letters written to the A Triple C.
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: But joining us on the line right now from the
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Motor Trade Association Policy and Communications manager Case Sillisen, Good
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: morning to you, Case, Good morning Coty, Thanks so much
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: for your time this morning. How are fuel prices tracking
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: from your perspective in the territory.
• 0:41
  Speaker 2: Yeah, look, we've seen over the last couple of months
• 0:43
  Speaker 2: that they have come down a bit. Certainly they were
• 0:45
  Speaker 2: a little bit higher, but with some of the interest
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: rate rises which are not just happening in Australia but globally,
• 0:51
  Speaker 2: some of that demand is easing off a little bit.
• 0:54
  Speaker 2: So they are a little bit off of the peak
• 0:55
  Speaker 2: where they were a couple of months ago and now
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: they're sort of holding it at the rough average in
• 1:01
  Speaker 2: Darwin of about one hundred and eighty nine one hundred
• 1:04
  Speaker 2: and ninety cents at the moment.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, and we've seen for a while there case. You know,
• 1:08
  Speaker 1: the terminal gate price seemed to be going right down,
• 1:10
  Speaker 1: but you know, at the Bowser it wasn't sort of
• 1:13
  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
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: little bit over the last couple of weeks.
• 1:21
  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's right. And there are a number of things
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: which can influence the cost of fuel at the Bowser. Obviously,
• 1:26
  Speaker 2: transport costs are a big one for the Northern territory,
• 1:30
  Speaker 2: you know, the isolation geographically and the transport costs can
• 1:35
  Speaker 2: be a factor with that. There are a number of
• 1:37
  Speaker 2: things also with volumes of fuel being sold as well.
• 1:40
  Speaker 2: So that's all plagued into what can ultimately translate to
• 1:43
  Speaker 2: the cost of the bowser for consumers.
• 1:46
  Speaker 1: Now I know that. You know, like I said, we've
• 1:49
  Speaker 1: seen a bit of a drop from your perspective, do
• 1:51
  Speaker 1: you reckon, like, have we seen much of a drop
• 1:53
  Speaker 1: over the last few months.
• 1:56
  Speaker 2: Yeah, Look, I think talking about the peak of around
• 1:59
  Speaker 2: sort of June July, we're talking about average costs in
• 2:03
  Speaker 2: Darwen probably about to ten cents, whereas as I said,
• 2:08
  Speaker 2: right now, we've sort of got about a ten percent
• 2:11
  Speaker 2: drop down to about that one to ninety mark at
• 2:14
  Speaker 2: the moment, which is an average. And certainly if I
• 2:16
  Speaker 2: look at Darwin today, I can see that prices, you know,
• 2:20
  Speaker 2: ranging from about one hundred and seventy seven and a
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: half cents for the lowest right at the moment, right
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: through to about one hundred and eighty four and one
• 2:27
  Speaker 2: hundred and eighty five, So you're talking about seven and
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: a half sense of difference at the moment. So it
• 2:33
  Speaker 2: really demonstrates that if you do shop around, if you
• 2:36
  Speaker 2: do choose where you're purchasing your fuel from, and supporting
• 2:40
  Speaker 2: a local independent will go a long way to saving
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: your money.
• 2:43
  Speaker 1: And that's really what the Motor Tried Association is urging
• 2:46
  Speaker 1: Territorians to do right now, isn't it.
• 2:49
  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
• 2:55
  Speaker 2: part in fact during the price of fuel and keeping
• 2:58
  Speaker 2: competition strong. You know that can average on average be
• 3:02
  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
• 3:07
  Speaker 2: in Darwin, it's a seven and a half per cent difference,
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: So it does improve competition. And we've got roughly about
• 3:13
  Speaker 2: a third of the marketplace in Darwen which we'd say
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: not major or you know, leaning towards independent retailers. So
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: there are options out there to choose an independent in.
• 3:23
  Speaker 1: Darwen in case, I mean, how many independents do we
• 3:26
  Speaker 1: have in Darwen and sort of in the top end.
• 3:29
  Speaker 1: There's a few that I know of, but are there
• 3:31
  Speaker 1: maybe more that sort of fall under the banner of
• 3:34
  Speaker 1: the larger retailer but they're actually owned by locals.
• 3:39
  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
• 3:43
  Speaker 2: report from twenty nineteen, so perhaps not the latest latest,
• 3:46
  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
• 3:52
  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
• 3:58
  Speaker 2: retailing brands which can give you, as I said, that
• 4:01
  Speaker 2: flexibility and that choice to be able to choose an
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: independent which can promote competition in the market and give
• 4:08
  Speaker 2: you a better price.
• 4:09
  Speaker 1: I wasn't aware of that. I mean around twenty one
• 4:11
  Speaker 1: in total that you know that are considered more so independent.
• 4:16
  Speaker 1: It is a larger number, I think than a lot
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  Speaker 1: of people would have realized.
• 4:20
  Speaker 2: Yeah, and I think ultimately there are different ways that
• 4:23
  Speaker 2: you can slice and dize that. But you know, without
• 4:25
  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
• 4:34
  Speaker 2: those major brands and certainly the small independence there. You know,
• 4:37
  Speaker 2: you're talking about ten out of the sixty that are
• 4:40
  Speaker 2: definitely there in Darwin that you can choose from, and
• 4:43
  Speaker 2: then there are others which are maybe franchise operators which
• 4:46
  Speaker 2: are not going through. As I said, some of those
• 4:48
  Speaker 2: major fuel retailing brands that you know your listeners will
• 4:53
  Speaker 2: be aware of.
• 4:53
  Speaker 1: Now, I guess we're all sort of wondering as well, Now,
• 4:57
  Speaker 1: what is going to happen when that fuel excise ends? Case?
• 5:00
  Speaker 1: Can I just confirm it ends on September twenty eighth,
• 5:03
  Speaker 1: doesn't it? The federal government's confirmed that they're not going
• 5:06
  Speaker 1: to be extending that in any way at this point
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  Speaker 1: in time.
• 5:10
  Speaker 2: Yes, all signs are at this stage that that's going
• 5:12
  Speaker 2: to be the date and there's going to be no
• 5:13
  Speaker 2: further extension. So from that sense, it's going to be
• 5:17
  Speaker 2: you know, the roughly twenty cent increase. You know that
• 5:21
  Speaker 2: may translate at the bows. I think what we've seen
• 5:24
  Speaker 2: with when that measure came in, the prices did respond
• 5:29
  Speaker 2: in terms of with retailers, and the A Trible C
• 5:31
  Speaker 2: did note that the retailers were not using it as
• 5:34
  Speaker 2: an excuse to not pass it on. Likewise, when the
• 5:37
  Speaker 2: excise comes off, the A Trible C will be watching
• 5:39
  Speaker 2: it again and they'll be making sure that retailers are
• 5:42
  Speaker 2: not using that as an excuse to unreasonably increase costs.
• 5:46
  Speaker 1: I guess for us here in the territory, we have
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: felt like we sort of felt like there was a
• 5:50
  Speaker 1: big you know, like there was a big lag in
• 5:53
  Speaker 1: terms of it being passed on. Now, whether that's correct
• 5:56
  Speaker 1: or not with every outlet, you know, I guess is arguable.
• 6:00
  Speaker 1: But for a lot of territorians they have felt like,
• 6:02
  Speaker 1: you know, some of the outlets maybe haven't been anywhere
• 6:05
  Speaker 1: near as fear as what they could be. Do you
• 6:08
  Speaker 1: think that we're going to sort of see this increase
• 6:10
  Speaker 1: immediately or are we going to see that argument of all,
• 6:13
  Speaker 1: you know, we've got x amount of fuel in storage,
• 6:16
  Speaker 1: so it will take a couple of weeks before the
• 6:18
  Speaker 1: price goes you know, it goes up again.
• 6:22
  Speaker 2: It's a mix of both, to be honest. Obviously, it's
• 6:24
  Speaker 2: a competitive marketplace and operators do have to respond to
• 6:27
  Speaker 2: one another's and compete with one another. On the other hand,
• 6:30
  Speaker 2: you know, where there's fuel storage at site, you may
• 6:32
  Speaker 2: have fuel that they've purchased at a wholesale at different prices.
• 6:36
  Speaker 2: So they may have a third of the tank that's
• 6:38
  Speaker 2: worth a certain amount, a third of the tank that's
• 6:41
  Speaker 2: worth slightly less, and a third of the tank that
• 6:43
  Speaker 2: might be worth less from that, and they average their
• 6:45
  Speaker 2: costs in terms of being able to maintain sustainable business
• 6:48
  Speaker 2: practices around that. So yeah, look, it doesn't always translate
• 6:51
  Speaker 2: to an immediate reduction, but that reduction will be there
• 6:55
  Speaker 2: and the HBC will be monitoring, monitoring it to make
• 6:58
  Speaker 2: sure that does occur.
• 7:00
  Speaker 1: Well, Case, I really appreciate your time this morning. Thank
• 7:02
  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
• 7:08
  Speaker 1: interested in.
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  Speaker 2: My pleasure, Thank you, thank you,