Petrol prices have soared throughout the state in recent weeks, but costly fuel is nothing new for Melton residents.
According to the RACV fuel price map, Melton’s fuel prices currently sit at least five to ten cents above the metropolitan average price of 202.5 cents per litre.
High fuel prices have long been an ongoing issue in Melton, with the ‘Fair Fuel Melton’ Facebook action group amassing 4200 members and featuring on A Current Affair last year.
Many locals have boycotted filling up at Melton stations and opt to travel to Bacchus Marsh or other nearby towns for their fuel.
“I work 20 mins away and live in Melton, it feels like I’m working to buy petrol to go back to work again,” one resident said.
“I haven’t bought fuel from Melton in over 15 years now, it’s been like this for as long as I can remember,” another resident said.
There have been many calls for an independent petrol station in the area to provide lower, competitive prices, but no movement has been made towards this so far.
Cr Ashleigh Vandenberg said the Melton’s petrol problem needed urgent intervention from the federal government, especially after the town had been hit hard by the pandemic.
“I’m concerned at the fact that the ACCC, despite our advocacy, has failed to take the matter seriously and the Federal Government has remained silent on the topic,” Cr Vandenberg said.
“We need action now,” she said.
Chief executive of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association, Mark McKenzie, said while the cost of fuel may remain volatile over the next eight weeks, the future of petrol prices was “not all dark”.
“There is reason to expect that the Australian dollar will continue to climb… and each time that happens, you’re seeing a one per cent decline in what it costs us to buy the fuel in Australian dollars,” Mr McKenzie said.
“It is just as plausible that it will go down as it is that it will continue to go up, it’s a 50-50 bet,” he said.
