Anthony Albanese’s government will halve the fuel excise for three months.

This is expected to cut prices by 26.3 cents per litre.

The heavy vehicle road user charge will be scrapped for three months.

A planned increase has also been delayed.

‘While Australia’s fuel supply outlook remains secure in the near term, we need to be very clear with Australians that the longer this war goes on, the worse the impacts will be,’ Albanese said.

‘The government understands that people are really worried, and we know the cost pressures are very real as the impact of the war on the other side of the world plays out right here.’

Albanese said the national cabinet had adopted a fuel security plan along with the states and territories.

‘We’ve been working over recent days, but right over the weekend, to make sure that we’re able to deliver a consistent plan, because one of the things that we want to ensure is one plan, not nine across eight state and territory jurisdictions and from the Commonwealth,’ he said.

The new plan has four ‘levels of action’ which are:

• Plan and prepare

‘This is where fuel supply operates as normal, with governments monitoring the impacts of global factors – clearly, we’re beyond that,’ Albanese said.

• Keeping Australia moving (The government says Australia is now here)

‘Fuel supply continues to operate effectively, but localised supply disruptions occur. That is where we are at the moment.’

• Taking targeted action

‘Ongoing supply disruptions would mean focusing on getting fuel to where it’s needed most, and adopting voluntary, practical measures to limit fuel use.’

• Protecting critical services

‘Ongoing supply disruptions would require government action to ensure critical users are protected and the economy remains open and operating.’

Polls indicate Australian voters are not happy with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s handling of the fuel crisis.

The latest RedBridge/Accent Research poll, which surveyed 1003 voters last week, found in its preferred prime minister stakes that Anthony Albanese stood at 33 per cent, down one point.

It suggested this could reflect some voter dissatisfaction with his management of the fuel crisis.

One Nation was twelve points ahead of the Coalition.

Redbridge Group director Kos Samaras addressed how Australians have responded to the fuel crisis, sparked by Iran closing the Strait of Hormuz after being hit by US-Israeli strikes.

‘The vast majority of Australians we surveyed blame Donald Trump,’ he said.

‘This is significant. It means the economic pain is being sheeted home to someone the Coalition has been reluctant to publicly confront, except Andrew Hastie.

‘That silence is costing them.’

Meanwhile, the latest Newspoll had Labor’s primary vote at 31 per cent and showed similarly strong support for One Nation at 26 per cent, placing it ahead of the cCoalition on 21 per cent.

The poll had a sample of 1232 voters and was conducted last week.

Forty four per cent of voters surveyed said Albanese was their preferred prime minister, compared to 36 per cent support for Taylor.

The Labor leader’s net approval rating has fallen further in this poll and sits at -18 per cent compared to Taylor’s -7 per cent.

Almost three quarters of those surveyed disapprove of the US war against Iran.

And 63 per cent oppose Australia sending naval vessels to assist the US in trying to keep the Strait of Hormuz open for shipping.

While people in Victoria and Tasmania have been told they can travel fare-free from this week, a similar rule won’t apply to those in New South Wales.

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan confirmed on Saturday that travel will be free throughout April.

‘This won’t solve every problem, but it’s an immediate step to help Victorians right now,’ she said.

Meanwhile, in Tasmania, people will be able to take coaches, buses and ferries at no charge for the next few months. Paid-for school buses would also be free.

The decisions have prompted calls from the NSW Liberal Party and the state branch of the Rail, Tram and Bus Union (RTBU) to make a similar change.

‘The RTBU has called on the NSW Government to act,’ a statement on social media by the union said last week.

‘Reducing the cost of public transport fares and increasing services as a way of helping NSW residents through the current fuel and cost of living crisis makes sense.’

However, Transport Minister John Graham has insisted the state would lose ‘millions of dollars for every single day’ that free transport was offered.

‘I want to be clear, the NSW government isn’t going down the path of free public transport for a couple of days, or for a month,’ he said on Sunday.

‘This situation will last more than a month.

‘We need to keep our power dry to be able to assist the broader community.’

South Australia and Western Australia have also since ruled out free fares.

In the Northern Territory, bus services in Darwin and Alice Springs have been free since July 2024.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has not ruled out a temporary cut to Australia’s fuel excise and heavy road user charge for trucks as part of the government’s emergency response to ongoing concerns about petrol and diesel supplies.

Fuel excise is a flat sales tax levied by Canberra on petrol and diesel bought at the bowser.

The current rate is 52.6 cents in excise for every litre of fuel purchased.

People driving heavy vehicles – such as buses, coaches, and trucks – on public roads pay a Road User Charge for each litre of diesel they buy.

During an appearance on the Today program, Chalmers was asked whether a cut to fuel excise could happen.

‘Do you categorically rule out the cuts to the fuel excise?’ host Karl Stefanovic said.

Chalmers avoided answering the question directly, but did not categorically say no.

‘What we’ve said about that, Karl, is we’ve focused more on supply, more on distribution, more on the rip offs, more on cost of living, relief in other ways, but obviously, we always have contingencies and fallbacks,’ he said.

‘(But) this government always tries to do the right thing by people, and we always try and help with the cost of living in the most responsible way that we can (by) weighing up a whole range of factors.’

During the heated interview, Stefanovic grilled Chalmers over the growing gap between the government’s claims of strong fuel supply and the reality facing Australians at the pump.

‘If the supply is there… why are stations running out?’ the host asked.

Chalmers pushed back, insisting the issue is not a national shortage but a breakdown in distribution driven by surging demand.

‘The ships are arriving, the refineries are doing their job… we have very substantial supplies of fuel,’ he said.

But he conceded there are ‘pressures in particular local areas’ and said the government is working with industry and regulators to redirect fuel where it is needed most.

‘It doesn’t make any sense to people that you’re saying the supply is there, the fuel is here, and we’re guaranteed that supply,’ Stefanovic added.

‘When some people in the regions are travelling hundreds of kilometres just to get fuel, that stations in the city areas have run out, the signs have literally gone out, the lights have gone out in some of these stations.

‘And for you to keep saying that, reiterating that there is supply when there isn’t in their local service station, when people are travelling hundreds of kilometres to get fuel and then going home, or they’ve got to work somewhere, and the expenses just keep rising and food prices keep rising, and you say everything’s okay, but it’s just not.’

On Thursday, the government confirmed 608 service stations across Australia were out of either diesel or unleaded fuel.

The number equates to about eight per cent of the nation’s 7,798 sites.

Australian retailers have said the impact of the fuel crisis on shipping and freight costs has been worse than the Covid-19 pandemic.

Chris Rodwell, chief executive of the National Retail Association, told Today that a third of members have faced fee increases of 25 per cent.

‘It’s really sobering … 50 per cent (of members) say the supply chain impact has been worse than the pandemic,’ said Rodwell.

The association has called on the Albanese government to introduce relief measures, including cutting diesel excise.

Photos of service stations displaying a staggering $9.99 per litre sparked alarm online – but the eye-watering figures aren’t what they seem.

Images and videos shared widely on social media show price boards reading ‘999.9’, with many Aussies fearing the fuel crisis had taken another dramatic turn.

‘This is getting ridiculous,’ one person said alongside a photo of an Ampol station, showing $9.99 per litre for E10, Unleaded, 95 and Diesel.

‘Remortgage your house to fill your car,’ a person replied.

Another joked: ‘Congrats! that’ll get you enough fuel to get to the next servo.’

However, many were quick to point out the ‘999.9’ price is caused by service stations as a placeholder to signal that a particular fuel type is unavailable – rather than an actual price.

The actual average price of petrol is 260.9c a litre for unleaded 91 and 321.5c a litre for diesel.

National Cabinet is set to model harsher emergency responses, including fuel rationing, as the Middle East crisis drags into week five.

However, the government is hoping it can avoid any severe action by securing more supply and persuading Australians to use less fuel.

‘I think the important thing here is that Australians should have reassurance that after having been through COVID not that long ago, where the rules were changed quickly, and governments were scrambling – not a criticism – but that’s not our approach in this instance,’ Energy Minister Chris Bowen told ABC’s AM.

‘We want to see the lessons of COVID learned, and also we want to make clear to the Australian people that where we think we’ll be will be signalled well in advance.

‘It’s not going to be 9pm press conferences saying what you can and can’t do tomorrow.’

The Albanese government says it is trying to avoid a return to widespread work-from-home measures as the fuel crisis drags on.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said authorities were steering clear of ‘heavy-handed’ COVID-era restrictions, but acknowledged working from home may still be encouraged in some cases.

‘We are trying to avoid those heavy-handed COVID interventions, but work from home in a number of instances makes a lot of sense,’ he said.

‘The Prime Minister has indicated more of a willingness to go down the voluntary rather than compulsory path.’

He also urged Australians not to cancel their Easter holiday plans, but to use fuel ‘responsibly’.

National Cabinet will meet on Monday for a second time to discuss the Middle East fuel crisis, as pressure mounts for a coordinated national response.

State and territory leaders, along with business groups, have called for a unified plan to manage the crisis as petrol prices surge and hundreds of service stations run dry.

Despite the disruption, Australia’s overall fuel stocks remain at normal levels. However, fears of future shortages and price spikes linked to the ongoing blockage of the Strait of Hormuz have triggered panic buying, leading to localised shortages of petrol and diesel.