Nationals call for fuel excise cut
Dominic Giannini |
Two Nationals MPs are calling on the federal government to cut the fuel excise as petrol prices continue to climb north of $2 a litre.
Queensland Senator Susan McDonald and Victorian MP Anne Webster want the 44-cents per litre excise cut to help reduce cost of living pressures.
Senator McDonald says the government should also look at pausing at least a portion of the excise.
“We just can’t afford to absorb the prices that we’re looking at currently,” she told the ABC.
Ms Webster has contacted Treasurer Josh Frydenberg about providing relief at the bowser.
It comes as the government faces pressure from Liberal premiers over the tax.
South Australian Premier Steven Marshall – who will face voters at the ballot box this weekend – has called for the excise to temporarily be halved as he fights to retain government.
NSW Premier Dominic Perrottet says he would welcome any cut in the excise to ease the soaring cost of living, while Tasmanian Premier Peter Gutwein has also lobbied the government for a cut.
While not ruling out a cut to the excise ahead of the federal budget being delivered on March 29, Prime Minister Scott Morrison says any cut might not make a difference given petrol prices have risen from around $1.70 to $2.20 – more than the full cost of the excise.
“The things we can do, we do, and the things we can’t do anything about, well, we understand them and work with other countries around the world to try and relieve those pressures,” he told the Nine Network on Sunday.
Assistant Treasurer Michael Sukkar said the budget would focus on the cost of living for households.
The fuel excise is expected to raise almost $50 billion over the next four years, with almost $47 billion to go toward land transport projects, according to the Australian Automobile Association.
AAP
