Fuel prices are going to go up as the tax cut that was made by the previous government ended six months ago.
In Australia, fuel excise was halved in order to reduce cost-of-living pressures, but the new government said it had no choice but to return it to its normal rate.
What's going on with the price of fuel?
The price of fuel is going to increase.
In March, the previous Coalition government halved the tax on each litre of fuel sold in Australia, dropping it from 44.2 to 22.1 cents.
The temporary discount ran for six months and ended at midnight.
The move was aimed at lowering fuel costs and easing cost-of-living pressures.
The tax break would take two weeks before the tax break would be passed on, as the Treasury secretary Josh Frydenberg flagged.
It took a while longer to take, which we'll explain later in the day. After the full fuel excise is reinstated, prices will probably go up.
The price should not go up immediately as there are millions of litres of fuel already in the system, according to Treasurer Jim Chalmers.
If fuel excise is introduced, industry estimates that there will be more than 700 million litres of lower excise fuel in the system, according to Mr Chalmers.
Mark McKenzie, CEO of the Australasian Convenience and Petroleum Marketers Alliance, said there would be a lag of up to five days before the price increase flows through to the pump.
He said service stations that are replacing their fuel on a daily basis will get the increase in cost flow straight through, and that's what we're going to see.
The cost of fuel at the bowser generally fluctuates with wholesale prices, but suppliers can set their own prices.
The fuel excise has increased by 25.3 cents a litre — up from 22.1 cents a year ago due to indexation and the GST.
The motorists could be forgiven for not feeling any relief.
In March, the fuel excise cut came at a time when global oil prices were climbing rapidly, increasing by about 50 cents towards the end of June.
The excise cut did have an impact, according to Gina Cass-Gottlieb, chair of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission.
She said that the cut to fuel excise has been passed on to Australian motorists in the vast majority of locations.
The ACCC reported that it took about six weeks for the lower prices to be seen at bowser.
The cut cost about $5.6 billion in lost revenue, according to government estimates.
The tax has halved for just six months.
The fuel excise is expected to put upward pressure on inflation, as a result of the reintroduction of the fuel excise.
The Treasury estimates that headline inflation will increase by 0.25 per cent in the December quarter of this year.
This is all at a time when the reserve bank has increased interest rates in an effort to rein in inflation.
The ACCC monitors fuel prices, and earlier this month it was ordered to increase its efforts ahead of the end of the excise cut.
The best way to put pressure on fuel retailers is to vote with their wallets, and to shop around for the cheapest fuel, according to consumer advocates and economists.
The ACCC also monitors petrol price cycles in the largest cities and publishes updates on its website.
It is worth noting that petrol price cycles are caused by the pricing policies of petrol retailers and not by changes in the wholesale cost of fuel.