The State Government has abandoned plans to collaborate with the RAA to develop an online real-time fuel pricing resource.
RAA Senior Manager Future Mobility Mark Borlace has described the move as “disappointing”, saying mandating real-time petrol pricing was a pre-election commitment and the Government “needs to honour this promise”.
“We were under the impression that the state government was going to use the same model as the NSW or NT Government, either one of which RAA would have supported,” he said.
As The Advertiser reported in March last year, the State Government committed to reforms that would provide motorists with real-time petrol pricing data for the first time.
At the time, Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman announced proposed legislation would allow the Office of Business and Consumer Affairs to post online changes in fuel bowser prices.
She said the Government was investigating how best to implement the initiative.
However Ms Chapman on Tuesday told State Parliament “it is with some disappointment that I advise that the government ultimately didn’t find a workable and productive solution with the RAA to improve South Australia’s access to real-time information about petrol pricing”.
“I regret to inform the house that the RAA was unable to commit to its involvement as part of the initiative at this time,” she said.
“Unfortunately, despite our best efforts we have been unable to agree on a model that would give South Australians access to real time information that would help them find the cheapest petrol.”
Ms Chapman said motorists could access information about fuel pricing on a range of smart phone apps such as MotorMouth and the Government would continue to monitor interstate trials and real-time reporting methods.
“Reducing cost of living pressures and red-tape reduction remains a priority for the government,” she said.
Opposition government accountability spokesman Tom Koutsantonis described the announcement as “just the latest broken promise from the Marshall Liberal Government”.
“The Liberals’ pledge was clear: they would deliver real-time fuel pricing information to South Australian motorists,” he said.
“Now we learn, on the same day as the Federal Budget, the Liberals are trying to sneak out the news they’ve broken their promise.”
Extracted from Daily Telegraph