Petrol pricing summit pointless

Petrol pricing summit pointless: PM. :

"Motoring bodies, including the NRMA, have called for the meeting to discuss how to ease the situation for motorists and to consider if the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) should have wider powers to supervise the industry."

Mr. Howard said a summit would only be a talkfest(his word) which would have no practical outcome. Well, that's discounting for you and not on the thing that matters - the price of petrol. Australians are being held to ransom here because a lot of kids are driven to school because so many of them are hijacked to and from home. It's currently occurring again in the northern suburbs. It is not easy to walk to places because most of us do not live with amenities in wasy walking distance. Most of us have to drive to work because public transport doesn't go where we go to work or runs at odd times...like once an hour! So saying we are going to be paying $1.45 this week when we paid $1.38 last week and $1.23 the week before is not helping us. Okay, we'll rearrange the budget and it probably won't affect the high income earners that much. It will and is having an impact on regular people. To say we are paying less is not strictly true. Please look at the pricing in other countries and then compare it with their public transport system and their capacity to walk to shops, dentists, schools, cinemas. We are set up quite differently here. When I go on holidays I never take my car and I practically nevr hire a car. In NZ I am not disadvantages. In the South Pacific Islands I am not disadvantaged, in Europe I am not disadvantaged. In Bendigo I got fighting fit from all my walking and it was manageable to walk around but not easy. In Mount Gambier I got doubly fighting fit and some places were unreachable without a car because Mount Gambier does not suit walkers at all. The hills and distances are too great. So , yes, we need to talk. We need to work out why we are suddenly paying so much when there doesn't really appear to be a logical reason for it. Avoiding open discussion tends to suggest there is a way we might solve this if we talk about it.