A re-elected Queensland Labor government would set up state-owned petrol stations, cap daily fuel price rises and take over operation of council buses from local government, premier Steven Miles will announce today.
Miles will use today’s state of the state address hosted by the Committee for Economic Development of Australia to make a populist pitch for a fourth Labor term.
He will promise to construct a dozen state-owned petrol stations and crack down on petrol price gouging by “big multinationals” if successful at the 26 October poll.
“It’s not a simple issue to fix. We don’t control global oil prices and we can’t force privately owned petrol retailers to charge less at the bowser, but a government I lead will do whatever we can to bring petrol prices down,” he said.
“Currently when you fuel up your car, you’re sending money offshore to big multinationals.
“Publicly owned fuel stations will charge a fair price for fuel, increase competition, and ensure Queenslanders have more choice when it comes to filling up.”
It is the latest in a flurry of state government policies aimed at the hip pocket. In a June budget full of cost-of-living giveaways, it slashed car registration by 20%, subsidised energy bills and froze all state government charges, among other handouts.
On Monday, the state government slashed the price of public transport fares to just 50 cents, the cheapest in the country.
The 12 publicly owned fuel stations would operate on a cost recovery basis, and would both sell petrol and diesel and operate fast chargers for electric vehicles. The initial sites would be chosen based on where competition is most needed across the state.
All petrol stations would be also be banned from raising the price of fuel more than once a day and required to advertise prices a day in advance. There would also be a trial of price caps, of a maximum rise of 5 cents a litre.
Smoothing out price rises is one of the Royal Automobile Club of Queensland’s top 10 election priorities.
The government would also aim to increase competition by using planning call-in powers and state-owned land to encourage independents and smaller retails.
The policy harkens back to the 1915 government of TJ Ryan. Faced with their own cost-of-living crisis Ryan established a network of state-owned businesses like fish shops, hotels, an insurance office and a network of government butchers designed to slash prices for consumers by adding competition and helping government set prices.
Queensland elected the world’s first union-based ‘labour’ government in 1899.