Dear Editor,
Territorians are often told that high fuel prices are an unavoidable result of being at the ‘end of the line’.
But the current price gap between Katherine and Palmerston exposes this as a lie.
On Wednesday the terminal gate price in Darwin was $1.67 using the Australia Institute of Petroleum data.
Yet, in Palmerston – mere kilometres from the fuel terminal – motorists are being slugged $1.83. Meanwhile, in Katherine, 300km further down the track, retailers are managing to sell fuel for $1.71.
If a station/s in Katherine can turn a profit with a 4-cent margin, why are Palmerston retailers being allowed to pocket a 15-cent margin?
More concerning is the silence from our elected officials.
I have formally written to the Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaor, Essential Services Minister Steve Edgington, and the Member for Brennan and Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby.
It has been nearly two weeks, and not one office has had the decency to respond.
The NT government has the legislative power under consumer affairs laws to investigate these margins and even set price caps.
Instead, they hide behind ‘monitoring’ and ‘transparency apps’ that do nothing but track our own fleecing.
When process replaces accountability and bureaucracy becomes a shield for inaction, the public loses faith.
It is time the CLP Government stops outsourcing responsibility and starts fixing the cost-of-living mess they promised to address.
Daryl Frahm, Palmerston
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This particular administration know its in for one term so the focus is putting as many friends in as many well paid jobs as they can find.