Page 3796 - Week 11 - Thursday, 24 November 2022
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and easily have greater access to market information, boosting drivers’ power as consumers.
The scheme’s extension to the ACT is part of a six-month pilot, during which time we will be reviewing including EV charging stations in the app to keep it relevant in the changing climate and up to date with community needs, as more Canberrans transition to zero-emission vehicles. Their addition to the app will make locating charging stations easier and help to ease range anxiety.
DR PATERSON: Minister, what benefits are there for service stations to participate and display their pricing in the FuelCheck app?
MS CHEYNE: This is a great opportunity for our small and independent ACT operators to take advantage of free price advertising and to bring awareness of their location to a larger audience. The FuelCheck app provides a level playing field for all service stations, regardless of their network size, to show consumer’s their pricing. By opting into the scheme and providing their pricing information, a service station will have their location and pricing information displayed on the app in real time, allowing them to attract customers they may otherwise not have.
I think the fact that more than 98 per cent of service stations in the ACT have already chosen to participate indicates that local service stations understand the benefit to their businesses.
MR COCKS: Minister, why did the government drag their heels for so long, when the Canberra Liberals have been calling for this for years?
MS CHEYNE: I thank Mr Cocks for the question. Well, actually, there has been no dragging of the feet from the ACT government. To say that the Canberra Liberals have been calling for this for years is a furphy. This was a recommendation from the report of the Select Committee into Fuel Pricing, which I chaired, together with Mr Wall and with Mr Parton. This was a unanimous recommendation which the ACT government agreed to consider but worked through this with the New South Wales government. As has been debated just a few months ago, when Mr Cocks and Mr Cain were present, we did discuss exactly what had happened here, in that there had been some initial engagement with the New South Wales government but initially there had been an outline of costs which, to the ACT government, appeared prohibitive.
But, since then, thanks to the very positive engagement that officials have had and that the Chief Minister has also had with the New South Wales government, we now have the app expanded into the ACT for free. That, I think, is a great outcome. I think the New South Wales government eventually realised that this would provide an extraordinary benefit for the many New South Wales customers who travel through and into the ACT each day—all 40,000 of them.
So I thank Mr Cocks for the opportunity to explain all of the effort that the ACT government has undertaken to achieve an excellent outcome for ACT consumers at no cost.
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