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NSW Premier Chris Minns has urged travellers not to cancel Easter holiday plans because of fuel anxieties, saying supply should be available as price cuts began to flow through to the bowser.
The average price of E10 petrol fell on Wednesday afternoon to an average of 229.8¢ a litre after service stations started passing on the federal government’s 26¢ cut to the fuel excise. The fall in average prices was about 17¢ as some retailers took longer to pass the saving on to consumers.
This led to some large discrepancies on Wednesday, such as a BP in Lane Cove charging 257.9¢ a litre while another station up the road was only charging 226.7¢ a litre.
Fewer service stations across NSW were empty on Wednesday, which Minns said could reflect a momentary easing of demand as consumers waited for the fuel excise cut to kick in before filling up.
“So I’m not going to get ahead of myself, but it’s come at a good time,” he said.
“It says to me that there’ll be fuel available and that you shouldn’t cancel your plans on the Easter long weekend if you’ve got the means to undertake that holiday.”
The number of service stations indicating they were out of diesel jumped from 105 on March 22 to 247 on Tuesday – a 135 per cent increase. Those reporting they were out of all fuel types doubled from 37 to 75 by March 30, before falling back considerably by Wednesday.
Queensland is standing in the way of further relief at the bowser, after the state failed to agree to a NSW proposal to pass on extra GST raised from higher fuel prices. Minns said the proposal was a “clear, unambiguous intervention” and the simplest way to help the community.
Australia’s ski industry is holding its breath to see how the higher cost of fuel and the cost-of-living crisis exacerbated by the war in Iran will affect winter operations.
Already facing a reduced snow mass thanks to climate change, the resorts’ problems for the coming season are multifaceted.
Dr Andrew Watkins, a Monash University adjunct professor of climate change and ambassador for Protect Our Winters, said: “It’s going to make all of our trips up to the snow fields more expensive.”
Not only do many skiers drive diesel vehicles, he said much of the equipment needed to run a ski resort – snow groomers, oversnow vehicles and some industrial-strength generators – run on Australian alpine diesel, a special blend made for the cold with kerosene or another anti-coagulant added.
“It highlights the security issue in relying on fossil fuels in a global market. It’s inherently risky, there are national security issues,” Watkins said.
“International markets dictate how much it costs to go to the snow.”
Adding to the resorts’ woes are the pre-sold season passes: American corporation Vail Resorts, which owns Perisher, Falls Creek and Hotham, sold its Epic Passes at the end of last year for $1051 – before war between Iran and America and Israel closed the Strait of Hormuz and led to a significant rise in the cost of fuel. It now costs $1235, while a season pass for Thredbo is selling at $1899.
A spokeswoman for Vail Resorts Australia said fuel supply challenges varied by resort, but they had not seen “any significant impact” to pre-season supply.
“Like all alpine operators, we plan for a wide range of scenarios to ensure we can continue operating safely and sustainably, even when costs or supply conditions change,” she said.
Monaro MP Steve Whan, a keen skier, said: “They’ve set their prices – pre-season prices are often committed well before the calendar year. They will have a cost increase in diesel that will certainly be making the cost margins smaller this year.”
The next five to 10 weeks will be crucial to the ski season, which traditionally begins on the June long weekend.
Ethan Thomas, manager of Paul Reader Snow Sports on York Street in Sydney, said while the store had not experienced any impacts from the fuel crisis so far, they were expecting the cost of freight to increase “in the very near future” which would ultimately be felt by customers.
With the 70-year-old store’s peak period domestically between June and September, Thomas said it would be felt on the bottom line if the war continued into winter.
Whan said the main factor determining whether people would ski was the quality of the snow.
“The price of fuel won’t make a huge economic impact to the success of the ski season. It will impact the day trippers coming for tobogganing, but that isn’t a huge economic contributor,” he said.
“I’m not hearing bookings are any different at this stage.”
Thredbo declined to comment. Charlotte’s Pass was contacted for comment.
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