**In short: **

The government has halved the fuel excise, reducing the cost of petrol and diesel by 26.3 cents a litre for three months.

The heavy road user charge will also be reduced to zero for the same period, taking pressure off truck drivers and transport costs.

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[–] 9 points 7 months ago (3 children)

Heavy road user charge being reduced is being underappreciated here. This is a good idea.

The excise reduction is interesting because there are good arguments on both sides. Lower cost increases demand typically but it will also go a long way to calming people down and having a net positive on society. Plus the bit where its slightly cheaper to try and exist.

I won't argue with receiving the benefits, but I'm not entirely convinced its the right move. Its not simple.

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  • [–] 3 points 7 months ago (2 children)

    and having a net positive on society

    What do you mean here?

    I assumed it was that it removes the sudden strain to peoples wallets but then your next sentence seems to introduce that as a seperate thing by leading with "plus" so I'm guessing there is more that I've been ignoring

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago (1 child)

    I'm talking more about the psychology. At the moment there seems to be (amongst my workplace at least) a bit of concern about filling up before the price goes up since it seemed to be moving near daily. With it being cheaper (albeit temporarily) people should be a bit calmer about it and remove it from the forefront of mind. Calmer people are less likely to descend into anarchy.

    I'm honestly glad you asked because I didn't immediately have an expansion to that ready and had to think about what I was trying to say.

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  • [–] 2 points 7 months ago

    Yeah, thanks for replying to this. Reducing panic buying is probably something I wasn't thinking of a lot and you can see it in my other comments. I'd put a lot of the downvotes down to an emotional situation but this is an important oversight

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