The Deputy Prime Minister has rejected calls to cut the fuel excise, arguing the move will not ease growing cost of living pressures.
Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has debunked claims a cut to the fuel excise will improve rapidly increasing cost of living pressures.
Petrol prices across the country continue to climb, with the average Aussie forking out more than $2 a litre at the bowser.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics has indicated rising fuel prices – which have increased by more than 30 per cent in 12 months – were the “largest contributor” to higher costs for households.
The increased cost of living pressure has reportedly forced the federal government to re-think its budget strategy to focus more on alleviating household expenses, according to Sky News Australia Political Editor Andrew Clennell.
However, Mr Joyce has rejected one policy suggestion – a cut or pause to the fuel excise which currently sits at 44 cents a litre proposed by South Australian Liberal Premier Steven Marshall.
Asked whether cutting the tax would help in easing cost of living, the Deputy Prime Minister said: “No it won’t”.
“But what it will do is it’ll take money away that we spend on roads,” Mr Joyce told Sky News Australia’s Laura Jayes.
“And we still need to keep the roads moving, we still need to keep the trucks moving.
“That’s another reason why we have to make our nation as strong as possible as quick as possible.”
Mr Joyce also said Russian President Vladimir Putin’s war in Ukraine was having a severe affect on household prices and was not just constrained to fuel.
Russian supplies of oil have been hit hard by severe western sanctions which have driven the price per barrel up across the globe.
But the Deputy Prime Minister said the war was affecting a range of products including grain and barley which have carried onto rising food costs.
“When Mr Putin goes into Ukraine the ramifications go all the way back to your supermarket,” he said.
“What I have to explain is it’s not going to be just fuel, Mr Putin’s going to be responsible for a loss across a whole range of categories.”
Extracted from Skynews