Western Australia has the legal power to step in and set maximum fuel prices but the Cook government has decided not to use it as petrol prices rise during the Middle East war.
The state says the jump is mainly being driven by a global oil shock and strong local demand, not clear evidence that retailers are overcharging drivers.
In Perth, the average price of unleaded rose 63.4 cents a litre in a week to $2.27 on Wednesday with some stations charging as much as $2.45.
After an urgent roundtable with farming, aviation and fuel industry representatives, Premier Roger Cook said the government would focus on keeping supply moving rather than fixing prices.
He said the powers were made for a different time and that, in the current crisis, the better response was to keep people calm and keep fuel flowing.
The state said it would give priority to fuel and fertiliser imports through WA ports, speed up restocking in regional areas and set up a weekly industry group to deal with supply chain problems as they come up.
WA already has a more regulated fuel market than other states through FuelWatch. Under that system, retailers must report the next day’s prices by 2pm and keep them locked in for 24 hours from 6am.
The system is meant to give motorists more certainty and make it easier to compare prices while the Petroleum Products Pricing Act still keeps open the option of formal maximum prices if the government decides the situation calls for it.
Ministers say transparency and supply management are the better tools. They say there is no evidence of price gouging and have urged motorists to shop around.
But the political pressure is not likely to ease soon with reports of rationing in parts of regional WA and farmers warning fuel shortages could disrupt seeding and push costs further through the economy.
