rudd says he hears petrol message

Don't think he is listening going by the poll. People want action not words.

By Sandra O'Malley | June 16, 2008
PRIME Minister Kevin Rudd says he has got the message loud and clear that motorists are hurting because of spiralling petrol prices.

Mr Rudd said that in his travels around the country, he had spoken to people about their concerns over the price of fuel.

"(This) is why in this Budget there is a $55 billion support package for working families, which is why we have embarked on a course of action in relation to fuel efficient cars and which is why ... we have developed a longer term policy paper on the question of fuel and energy policy for Australia," he said today.

But the Federal Government's actions have not found favour with the public.

The latest Nielsen poll found 56 per cent of voters were dissatisfied with the way Mr Rudd was handling the petrol problem, while 78 per cent wanted the Government to take action to bring fuel prices down.

Of people who want the Government to take action, two out of three wanted it to cut the tax on fuel - as proposed by the Coalition - and 22 per cent supported Labor's FuelWatch scheme.

Mr Rudd reminded people that the price of petrol, which is sitting around $1.60 per litre, was the result of global factors.

"This is a global problem, we have the greatest global oil shock in 30 years which is reverberating across every economy in the world but we have a plan going forward," he said.

"I think we have always seen FuelWatch as ... a modest measure to deal with greater power for consumers in a difficult environment, which is produced by a global oil shock," he said.

"It's one modest measure and we have never sought to describe it as much more than that - remember the savings that we indicated were possible under that were something like 1.9 cents per litre.

"What we are talking about worldwide are massive fluctuations in price, tens and tens of cents a litre brought about by this global oil shock."

Mr Rudd said he would send a representative to an emergency meeting of oil producers and consumers in Saudi Arabia at the weekend.