Inquiry into the National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers) Bill 2008; National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers)
(Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008
Information about the Inquiry
On 17 June 2008, the Senate referred the National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers) Bill 2008 and the National Fuelwatch (Empowering Consumers) (Consequential Amendments) Bill 2008 to the Senate Standing Committee on Economics for report not before 29 September 2008.
The objective of these bills is to empower consumers to make informed decisions and
to purchase fuel at the lowest possible price. To this end, the bills introduce a requirement that petrol retailers must notify the Australia Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) of their next day's fuel prices by 2pm each day and must sell at their notified prices from 6am the next day to 6am the following day. The inquiry will examine:
- the impact of the proposed Fuelwatch scheme on the price consumers will pay for motor fuel (including unleaded petrol, diesel and LPG) in metropolitan areas, regional centres and rural Australia;
- the economic benefits and costs of the proposed Fuelwatch scheme to consumers in metropolitan areas, regional centres and rural Australia;
- other economic costs of the proposed Fuelwatch scheme, including the compliance costs of the scheme for industry, particularly independent retailers;
- the impact of the proposed Fuelwatch scheme on competition between motor fuel retailers and the operation and viability of independent motor fuel retailers;
- intraday price volatility in the retail market, established price cycles in each state and territory, and consumer awareness of price cycles;
- the impact of Fuelwatch on discounting, as well as the amplitude and duration of price cycles, including any penalties that will apply to motor fuel retailers for not fixing prices for 24 hour periods;
- the potential use under the Fuelwatch scheme of sophisticated pricing strategies by motor fuel retailers who have more than one retail outlet, and how they may take advantage of the 24 hour rule;
- independent analysis of the overall economic benefits and costs of the proposed Fuelwatch scheme;
- independent analysis of the differences in motor fuel prices between Western Australia and other Australian states and territories, with particular reference to volumetric or consumption-weighted prices; and
- the legal basis for the legislation.
The Committee invites written submissions which should be sent to:
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Economics
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia
The closing date for submissions was Monday, 7 July 2008. If you need an extension of time to make a submission, please contact the committee secretariat.
The Committee requests that where possible, submissions should also be provided by email to economics.sen@aph.gov.au preferably as MS Word or RTF format documents. Notes to assist in preparing submissions are available from the website https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/wit_sub/index.htm or telephone the
secretariat on 02 6277 3540, fax: 02 6277 5719, or e-mail at the above address.
Once the Committee accepts your submission, it becomes a confidential committee document and is protected by Parliamentary Privilege. You must not release your submission without the Committee's permission. If you do, it is not protected by Parliamentary Privilege. At some stage during the inquiry, the Committee normally makes submissions public. Please indicate if you want your submission to be kept confidential.
Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to the Parliament House TTY number (02 6277 7799). Adobe also provides tools for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. These tools are available at: http://access.adobe.com/. If you require any special arrangements in order to enable you to participate in a committee inquiry, please contact the Committee Secretary.
If you need any further information, consult the Committee's website at https://www.aph.gov.au/senate/committee/economics_ctte/inquiries.htm or contact the Committee Secretary on (02) 6277 3540 (phone), (02) 6277 5719 (fax); or by email to economics.sen@aph.gov.au or by writing to the above address.
For further information, contact:
Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Economics
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia