FuelWatch Bill Hands Wide New Powers To The ACCC

Key Point

• The FuelWatch scheme gives the ACCC power for the first time to impose fines on individuals and companies for breaches of certain elements of the scheme without going before the courts.

Rising fuel costs, and the question of what (if anything) should be done about them, is the hot topic of conversation, it seems, wherever one turns these days. The proposed introduction of a National FuelWatch scheme recently announced by the Government has only served to intensify the debate.

Understandably, much of the debate thus far between the political parties, amongst the general public and within the fuel industry itself has concerned the ability of the FuelWatch scheme to deliver lower petrol prices to consumers and fuel-reliant industries.