Page 1771 - Week 06 - Thursday, 19 May 1994
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holiday periods. Today we have a whole new ball game. The ACT market has become more competitive. Downward changes in wholesale prices have been consistently passed on to motorists, and for the first time in a very long time in Canberra there is discounting at the pump.
These changes in market behaviour were kicked off when we entered into a licence agreement with Burmah Fuels Australia to enable it to operate the service station at the old government depot site on Wentworth Avenue, Kingston. Burmah Fuels approached the Government with a proposal to set up a retail petrol outlet in the full understanding that ACT consumers required more competitive retail petrol pricing, and that is precisely what they have got. The grant of the licence to Burmah Fuels was consistent with the recommendations contained in the report of the ACT Government Working Group on Petrol Prices. The Government is firmly committed to implementing those recommendations. Today I wish to formally announce a development which will sustain the gains we have made so far.
The working party considered that the competitive environment to allow market forces alone to regulate service station development did not exist in the ACT. It believed that government intervention in the marketplace was necessary to stimulate such an environment, and that land release policy was a legitimate mechanism in the short term for promoting change in market conditions. There were two aspects where the working party believed that land release policy could assist - in promoting the entry of independents into the market, and in reducing the incentive for speculation and unnecessary layers of ownership.
Accordingly, the working group, in recommendation 11 of its report, recommended that:
... the following short term intervention measure be undertaken to encourage the introduction of independents into the Canberra market:
Expressions of interest from independent operators should be invited in relation to the already-nominated sites at Gold Creek and Gilmore and additional sites, up to a total of 7 sites, to be nominated by persons or groups expressing interest.
These sites should meet planning requirements as recommended by this Report and should be offered at market value by direct grant or restricted auction.
A maximum time frame of six months should be set for the receipt and assessment of expressions of interests and the grant of sites.
The eligible grantees would have to be owner-operators and not own more than 3 sites already in the ACT.
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