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Why drivers were queuing around the block to refuel after Cranbourne West service station winds back the clock by 20 years Party pays fuel excise at servo Price slashed by over a third READ MORE: Fuel prices surge as excise cut ends By DAVID SOUTHWELL FOR DAILY MAIL AUSTRALIA Published: 23:51, 18 December 2024 | Updated: 23:51, 18 December 2024 e-mail View comments A petrol station sent drivers queuing around the block after slashing its fuel to less than a dollar a litre in a price not seen for almost 20 years. APCO service station dropped its unleaded fuel price from $1.55 to 99c at Cranbourne West, south-east Melbourne , between 10am and 11am on Wednesday.
The move came after Libertarian senate candidate Jordan Ditloff picked up the tab for the fuel excise to show how much cheaper life would be without a petrol tax. Motorists were also spared the excise on unleaded petrol mixed with ethanol and for diesel, which also brought the asking price down by around a third. Mr Ditloff told Daily Mail Australia he was struck by how grateful people were to get even just a single tank of cheaper fuel.
'People were really, really appreciative,' he said. '(Libertarian Victorian MP) David Limbrick and I felt like Father Christmas because people were so appreciative and enthusiastic. 'I dare say it is probably the warmest reception a politician has had in Cranbourne for a long time.
'It showed how much of a difference it would make if fuel excise were abolished.' A service station slashed its fuel prices by around a third for an hour as part of a political stunt by the Libertarian party in Victoria Mr Ditloff said the popularity of the stunt revealed the financial hardship many were facing. 'People are really struggling with the cost of living, he said.
'They were waiting for 20 minutes from before the the promotion started so there was a line around the corner basically from when it kicked off to when it finished. 'We had quite a number of young families there, quite a number of people who were under a lot of pressure and said they were experiencing a lot of hardship. 'We ended up doing it a bit longer than an hour just to get everyone who was in the queue so they weren’t in line watching the price go up.
Some opportunistic motorists even turned up with fuel cans to load up on the cheap fuel on offer, but Mr Ditloff said he didn't mind. 'They said they just had happened to have the cans with them and asked if was OK to fill them up,' he said. 'And I said yes they could.
I thought "That’s cheeky but I’ll pay it, I love that". Libertarian candidate for Victoria's Senate spots Jordan Ditloff paid almost $6000 to subsidise the petrol 'That’s a pretty libertarian thing to do.' Motorists didn't even have to fill their own tanks up with Libertarian volunteers on hand do it for them.
'We did a US gas station type thing where our volunteers were filling up cars,' Mr Ditloff said. 'There were a few people worried about it because they thought they might have to pay more or lose the discount if someone else filled it up.' In the end, 238 motorists took advantage of the discount to fill up with 10,500 litres of the different fuels.
The tax amount paid by the Libertarians on that amount was $5,800, which Mr Ditloff said came out of fund-raising he had done for his Senate campaign. Fuel excise is a sales tax levied by the federal government on petrol and diesel bought at the bowser and is indexed against inflation twice a year. In March 2023, the Morrison government halved the fuel excise from 44c to 22c in a pre-election sweetener that lasted until September of that year when the Albanese government declined to keep the tax cut going.
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