On this day in 1994, the executive director of the NSW Service Station Association, Brian Mark, stated Canberra motorists were footing the bill to allow car owners in Sydney to enjoy cheaper fuel.
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Mr Mark argued the existing system disadvantaged people living in town and country areas as it only ensured lower prices for highly competitive metropolitan areas. In his view, oil companies had an egregious amount of power over pricing and the only viable option left was government oversight to ensure an equal field for service station owners.
Michael Delaney, executive director of the Motor Trades Association of Australia, said service station owners were "unjustly bearing the brunt of public criticism over fuel prices".
He said oil companies had been treating them horrendously. Even though, in theory, service station owners were free to set pump prices, the reality was the prices were set by the fuel companies.
Referring to the sudden increase in fuel prices when motorists were travelling for the Easter holidays, Mr Delaney said: "Never were the problems in the industry more evident than in the self-serving increase in fuel prices by the oil companies in the days which preceded Easter, a tactic which was outrageous and also unbelievably stupid."
Concerns over the power and control of large companies have in pricing have continued today with Coles, Woolworths and Bunnings among others being subjected to a parliamentary grilling at a Senate inquiry.
Similar to the concerns over the treatment of service station owners, suppliers for Coles, Woolworths and Bunnings have reported being undercut and forced to lower their margins.
