Australia: New Man Appointed as Petrol Price Watchdog
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Thursday, 02 October 2008 |
The Federal Government of Australia has appointed a senior Australian
Competition and Consumer Commission official, Joe Dimasi, as its petrol
price watchdog after the first man it appointed to the position
resigned unexpectedly.
The Assistant Treasurer, Chris Bowen, said yesterday Mr Dimasi would take up the post of petrol commissioner subject to the approval of the states and territories. "Mr Dimasi is dedicated to improving the competitive outcomes of the fuel industry in Australia and his background in economics and regulation will prove useful in the Government's plans to implement the FuelWatch legislation by the end of this year," he said.
The petrol commissioner is responsible for formally monitoring and investigating petrol prices under the Trade Practices Act and for informal monitoring of LPG and diesel prices.Mr Dimasi said he would be "making sure petrol prices are as competitive as they possibly can be and that we hold the industry to account."
The Government said this year the post of petrol commissioner, which is a new position inside the consumer commission, would be filled by the West Australian petrol price regulator, Pat Walker. Mr Walker quit soon after his appointment to return to Perth for family reasons.
The other main plank of the Government's policies to keep petrol prices down, its FuelWatch legislation, which would require petrol stations to fix their prices every 24 hours, still appears unlikely to pass the Senate. A spokesman for independent South Australian senator Nick Xenophon said there had been no recent discussions between the senator and the Government over the legislation.
The Government had wanted the scheme in place before the Christmas holidays but it is being opposed in the Senate by the Coalition and Senator Xenophon, and there are now just four weeks of Senate sittings scheduled before the end of the year.
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