By Sonia Isaacs
DIESEL prices pushing beyond $3.20 a litre and tightening supply across the Glass House region are forcing farmers, fuel retailers and small businesses into tough decisions, with industry veterans warning conditions are the worst seen in decades.
For long-term Witta independent fuel retailer Trevor Sommer, the pressure has become unprecedented, with supply no longer keeping pace with demand.
“I’ve been doing this for 50 years, and never in my entire life have I ever seen anything like this,” he said.
Deliveries have slowed to a trickle, leaving him unable to meet the competing but essential needs of farms, trucking businesses and local customers.
“My supply has been significantly reduced to the point where I can no longer reliably serve all of my customers,” he said.
“While I am still receiving small amounts here and there, it is nowhere near enough to meet regular demand.”
Beerwah macadamia farmer, Peter Boyle, said he was conserving fuel for harvest and cutting usage back to essential jobs such as pest control.
“Every single step to get products onto that supermarket shelf relies on diesel,” he said.
“We live and die by diesel pretty much.”
Mr Boyle said consumers would soon start to feel the pinch in the form of empty shelves or significantly higher prices, while farmers have limited ability to pass costs on.
“I’ve never seen this before,” he said.
“There’s going to be so many flow-on effects that people aren’t actually seeing now.”
In response to the growing crisis, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese this week announced a temporary three-month halving of the fuel excise.
The measure will save motorists 26.3 cents a litre.
“We are making fuel cheaper today because we understand that Australians are under serious pressure,” Mr Albanese said on Monday.
Despite this the region faces unique pressures compared to metro areas, including the simple reality of distance and reliance on diesel for everyday movement.
At the retail level, Beerwah Co-Op operations manager Frances Ross said diesel prices had been rising by around 10 cents per litre with each delivery due to global pressures, rather than local price gouging.
“Every time we’ve received a delivery, the price has gone up because of supply and demand issues,” she said, warning panic buying was compounding the problem.
“If people can try not to panic, it will go a long way to helping.”
Ms Ross said that despite rising prices on fuel apps and boards, the Co-Op was not profiting from the surge.
“From an independent, co-operative perspective, we pride ourselves on being very fair.
“I would doubt we’re making anything on fuel at the moment, it’s very borderline as to whether it’s actually costing us.”
The surge in fuel costs is also driving up delivery charges for other goods, adding pressure to local operations.
Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Association chief executive Rowan Lee said Australia was not facing a fundamental fuel shortage, but a “perfect storm” of panic buying, contract priorities and supply chain bottlenecks in regional areas.
“Australia’s fuel is still flowing,” Mr Lee said, noting that demand had doubled in some areas due to panic topping-up.
Suppliers are prioritising contracted customers first, leaving many independents at the back of the queue.
He warned that sustained pressure on supply could quickly escalate the situation.
“The longer elevated demand continues, the riskier things are going to get,” he said.
Glass House Mountains resident and business owner Dave Whitefield and his wife Kathy have abandoned a 10-week caravan trip they spent 15 months planning, including a ferry booking to Kangaroo Island that is now on hold for up to 18 months.
The couple were due to depart last Wednesday, March 25, for a road journey through New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia.
“The car’s serviced, the route’s mapped out on a big map on the kitchen table, it was just fill up and go,” Mr Whitefield said.
“But if there’s no fuel to be had, you could be a long way from home and not really knowing how you’re going to get back.”
Towing their caravan, the Whitefields estimate about 300 kilometres per tank, often needing to refuel twice daily on long-haul legs.
Their previous six-week trip through the Northern Territory and Western Australia covered roughly 12,500 kilometres, with the now-cancelled journey expected to be of a similar scale.
“Divide that by 300 at today’s prices,” Mr Whitefield said.
“You’ve got a lot of tanks of fuel, and that’s only if you can actually get it.” Both are now going back to work.
Cedarton couple, Janet and Alf Kwarcianyi, have also abandoned a long-planned 44th-anniversary road trip, which was meant to start on March 24.
The trip would have retraced their original honeymoon route across New South Wales, Canberra, the Barossa Valley and the Great Ocean Road.
“We’ve had the idea for this trip for over 20 years,” Alf said.
“Suddenly everything started happening and two weeks ago we had to sit down and just make the decision, it was too risky and too expensive.
“We didn’t want to get stuck somewhere because we can’t get fuel.”
Beerwah resident Donna Renwick said the cost of diesel was weighing on her family’s Easter plans, with a trip to New South Wales now uncertain.
“We’re hoping to head away to New South Wales for Easter and our vehicle is a diesel so it’s making us think twice,” she said.
While the family has not yet changed plans, she added they were “very concerned” about rising costs and availability.
For tradie Joey Pallett, the impact is already being felt in day-to-day life.
Describing current prices as “pretty crazy,” he said rising diesel costs could soon affect his ability to work.
“It’s gonna be getting hard to get to work soon, especially having to pay for your own fuel for work,” he said.
Retiree Ross Buerckner said the situation was even more restrictive, with travel increasingly out of reach.
“If it goes any higher, I won’t be able to go anywhere,” he said.
He added a planned trip had already been cancelled because fuel was “too dear”.
sonia@gcnews.com.au
